Universidade Católica de Moçambique

Instituto de educação à Distância

Past Simple Tense

Helena Avelino Tiago

Code: 708212849

Course: Educação Física

Subject: English (1st year)

Nampula, May, 2022

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Feedback Sheet
Indicators Classification
Categori Padres Maximu Mark’
es m score s Subtota
lectur l
e
 Cover 0.5
 Index 0.5
 Introduction 0.5
Structure  Discussion 0.5
Organizational 0.5
 Conclusion
aspects
 Bibliography 0.5
 Conclusion Practical 1.0
theoretical contributions
 Description of Aims 1.0
 Content Introduction 2.0
Introduction Contextualization (Clear
indication of problem
 Methodology appropriate 2.0
to the subject of the work)
 Articulation and mastery of 2.0
academic discourse (careful
written expression,
Content Analysis and coherence / textual
discussion cohesion)
 Data exploration 2.0
Conclusion  Practice theories 2.0
Contributes
General Formatting  General aspects Paging 1.0
Aspects formatting, font type and
size, paragraph, spacing
between lines
Referenc Bibliographic Accuracy and coherence of the 4.0
es References APA citations/references
Bibliogr Standards 6th bibliography
aphical edition in 
citations and
bibliography.

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Índice
Feedback Sheet..................................................................................................................1

Improvement recommendations:.......................................................................................2

1. Introduction.........................................................................................................4

1.1. General Objective............................................................................................4

1.2. Specific Objectives:........................................................................................4

1.3. Methods of work.................................................................................................4

2. Past simple tense.................................................................................................5

2.1. How to Formulate the Simple Past..................................................................6

2.2. How to Make the Simple Past Negative.........................................................6

2.3. How to Ask a Question...................................................................................7

2.4. Common Regular Verbs in the Past Tense.....................................................7

2.5. Common Irregular Verbs in the Past Tense....................................................7

2.6. Can simple past tense express future action?..................................................8

3. Composition about my life before university.....................................................8

4. Conclusion........................................................................................................10

5. Bibliography reference.....................................................................................11

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 1. Introduction

In this research work I am going to describe about the past simple tense, as we know
that the Past Simple Tense is used to refer to actions that were completed in a time
period before the present time. In the Simple Past the process of performing the
action is not important. What matters is that the action was completed in the past.
The action may have been in the recent past or a long time ago. 

So it’s very necessary to learning the Simple Past Tense one of the most common
tenses in spoken English and the points to pay attention to.

As well by learning the simple past we can describe many things about our personal
and professional life.

The really aims of this work are:

1.1. General Objective

 Related about the past simple tense;

1.2. Specific Objectives:

 To show the form of past simple tense;
 To describe the past simple tense;
 To explain about the past simple tense;

1.3. Methods of work

Research methods are the strategies, processes or techniques utilized in the collection of
data or evidence for analysis in order to uncover new information or create better
understanding of a topic. I used an internet and physical books to discover man
information related about the Past simple tense.

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 2. Past simple tense
Silva (n.d), the simple past tense, sometimes called the preterit, is used to talk about a
completed action in a time before now. The simple past is the basic form of past in
English. the time of the action can be in the recent past or the distant past and action
duration is not important.

The simple past is a verb tense that is used to talk about things that happened or existed
before now.

Example: Joao sailed to Ancuabe in 1984

My father died last year.

We crossed the channel yesterday.

He won the silver medal.

Slawson & Wiemelt (2010), the simple past tense shows that you are talking about
something that has already happened. Unlike the past continuous tense, which is used to
talk about past events that happened over a period of time, the simple past tense
emphasizes that the action is finished.
Example: Wolfgang admired the way the light glinted off his silver medal.

We can also use the simple past to talk about a past state of being, such as the way
someone felt about something. This is often expressed with the simple past tense of the
verb to be and an adjective, noun, or prepositional phrase.

Example: Wolfgang was proud of his hula hoop victory.

The contest was the highlight of his week.

You always use the simple past when you say when something happened, so it is
associated with certain past time expressions.

Frequency: often, sometimes, and always.

I sometimes walked home at lunchtime.

I often brought my lunch to school.

A definite point in time: last week, when I was a child, yesterday, six weeks ago

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We saw a good film last week.

Yesterday, I arrived in Pemba.

She finished her work at seven o’clock.

I went to the theatre last night.

An indefinite point in time: the other day, ages ago, a long time ago

People lived in Mocimboa da Praia a long time ago.

She played the piano when she was a child.

NOTE: the word ago is useful way of expressing the distance into the past. It is placed
after the period of time: a week ago, three years ago and a minute ago.

2.1. How to Formulate the Simple Past

Silva (n.d), for regular verbs, add -ed to the root form of the verb (or just -d if the root
form already ends in an e):

Play→Played Type→Typed Listen→Listened Push→Pushed Love→Loved

For irregular verbs, things get more complicated. The simple past tense of some
irregular verbs looks exactly like the root form:

Put→Put Cut→Cut Set→Set Cost→Cost Hit→Hit

For other irregular verbs, including the verb to be, the simple past forms are more
erratic:

See→Saw Build→Built Go→Went Do→Did Rise→Rose Am/Is/Are→Was/Were

The good news is that verbs in the simple past tense (except for the verb to be) don’t
need to agree in number with their subjects.

Wolfgang polished his medal. The other winners polished their medals too.

2.2. How to Make the Simple Past Negative

Slawson & Wiemelt (2010), fortunately, there is a formula for making simple past verbs
negative, and it’s the same for both regular and irregular verbs (except for the verb to

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be). The formula is did not + [root form of verb]. You can also use
the contraction didn’t instead of did not.

Wolfgang did not brag too much about his hula hoop skills. Wolfgang’s
girlfriend didn’t see the contest.

For the verb to be, you don’t need the auxiliary did. When the subject of the sentence is
singular, use was not or wasn’t. When the subject is plural, use were not or weren’t.

The third-place winner was not as happy as Wolfgang. The fourth-place

winner wasn’t happy at all. The onlookers were not ready to leave after the contest
ended. The contestants weren’t ready to leave either.

2.3. How to Ask a Question

Slawson & Wiemelt (2010), the formula for asking a question in the simple past tense
is did + [subject] + [root form of verb].

Did Wolfgang win the gold medal or the silver medal? Where did Wolfgang go to
celebrate? Did the judges decide fairly, in your opinion?

When asking a question with the verb to be, you don’t need the auxiliary did. The
formula is was/were + [subject].

Was Wolfgang in a good mood after the contest? Were people taking lots of pictures?

2.4. Common Regular Verbs in the Past Tense

Infinitive Past tense Negative
To ask Asked Did not ask
To work Worked Did not work
To call Called Did not call
To use Used Did not use

2.5. Common Irregular Verbs in the Past Tense

Infinitive Past tense Negative
To be Was Was not / Were not
To have Had Did not have
To do did Did not do
To say Said Did not say

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To get Got Did not get
To make Made Did not make
To go Went Did not go
To take Took Did not take
To see Saw Did not see
To come Came Did not come

The simple past is a verb tense describing events that already happened? 

What are some examples of simple past tense?

“I ate cereal for breakfast this morning.” 

“Morganucodon was an early mammal that lived with dinosaurs.”

2.6. Can simple past tense express future action?

The simple past tense can only express actions in the past. However, you can show
current ongoing actions that started in the past with the present perfect continuous tense
(e.g., “I have been working there for twenty years”). 

3. Composition about my life before university

My life before university was one of stability. There was a set pattern to each day and
week, and this unspoken schedule was rarely broken. If there were important events
coming up, my mom would put them on a weekly calendar in the kitchen for all to see. I
always knew what was going to happen tomorrow or the day after. Before university, I
also had a decent sized friend group because I did marching band all throughout high
school. However, my closest friend group was made up of three people that I’d known
since elementary school. The only changes that would occur to my friendships would be
if someone graduated, moved away, or if some intense drama unfolded. Other than that,
my friend groups were stable. In terms of romantic relationships, I had only been dating
my boyfriend for a week when I moved in. Some may say that I’m crazy for starting a
relationship so close to move-in day, but it just felt like the right thing to do. I’m sure this
is similar to how one of my friend felt when she brought Antonio back to the Pemba city
without even knowing what had happened since the last time they’d seen each other. She

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comments that, “It doesn’t matter that I barely know the man that Antonio has become…I
just want to spend more time with him”. Though others may have considered I believe
that becoming acclimated to University is an ongoing phenomenon that I experience.
Since when I was young I liked and I dreamed to be the best on playing soccer and
basketball reason why I decided to be trained as teacher of physical education so that
my dream can became a reality.

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 4. Conclusion
The Simple Past is used for actions that started and finished at a specific time in the
past. It’s also possible to use the simple past in a sentence without specifying a
time, but it must have previously been made clear that the speaker is referring to a
finished period.

The Simple Past is used to describe a process that started and finished in the past. In
this case, the process of the action is long and is used by specifying time periods
such as ‘the whole year’ or ‘all day’.
The Simple Past can also be used in sentences that describe past habits. These
sentences have the same purpose as the expression ‘used to’. It should be clear in
this kind of sentence that the action referred to is a habit. Time expressions
like always, often, usually and never can be used to underline this.

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 5. Bibliography reference
SILVA, L. G. A. (n.d). "Simple Past Tense"; Brasil Escola. Disponível em:
Https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/ingles/simple-past.htm. Acesso em 21 de maio de 2022

SLAWSON, W. & WIEMELT, (2010). Vocabulary in Use p.315-326).

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