Self-assessment ×

interrogative on the line. You can know your score

at the end of the exercise.

P o l i c e m a n : Ok, Mr. López relax and tell me about

the problem. Mr. López: It’s my wife. She

Went (go) out yesterday to buy some milk.

And she Did not came (not come) back.

P o l i c e m a n : When Did saw (you see)

Simple
your wife for the last time? Mr. López: I

Saw (see) her yesterday evening.P

Po l i c e m a n :

Tell me what happened yesterday. M r . L ó p e z :

past
Well, we Woke (wake) up around 7 o’clock as

usual. We Had (have) breakfast, and then I

Drove (drive) to work. I think she

Went (go) shopping. She always goes

(make) Affirmative,
shopping on Wednesdays. Then, she

dinner.P
Po l i c e m a n :
Made
When

Did came

López: I Came
negative and (you come)

(come) home at 5 o’clock. I

home? Mr.

Sat interrogative
(sit) down in my sofa and Read

forms
(read) my favourite book. Then we Had (have)

Close

Presentation

In this section, you will read, observe and study

how to describe completed actions at specific times
in the past. You will read about an unusual pet, and
listen to the biography of a survivor from the
“Titanic.” You will also write your autobiography and
recycle time expressions. Next, you will remember
a special celebration to write about it. Finally, you
will learn and practice irregular verbs and the
pronunciation of regular verbs in the past.

Look at the following pictures and think about

these questions for a moment. Click on each
image to see its description. Use the arrows
to see the rest of the images.

 

D
Doo yy o
ouu ee vv ee rr tt h
h ii n
n kk aa b
boou
u tt tt h
h ee p
p aa ss tt ??
Geralt. (2012). Día de Año Nuevo [illustration]. Taken from
goo.gl/Q0qGW7. Consulted on November 08, 2016.

Objective

By the end of this section, you will use

the simple past tense in affirmative,
negative and interrogative. You will make
a distinction with WAS/WERE and recycle
past time expressions, to ask and give
information about people’s activities in
the past.

Simple past

In everyday life, we sometimes talk about

events that happened in the past. Study and
review the following presentation in order to
identify some elements that we use to
describe past events.
Click on the link to download the
presentation.

Simple past

These are the characteristics of the simple

past tense contextualized in a day of a
student like you. Now let’s check some verbs
in past and their classification.

Regular and
irregular verbs
Do you remember some verbs in English?
When we use them in the past tense, we
classify them in regular and irregular verbs.
Look at the following information.

Regular verbs

Add to most verbs- ED Ask- asked

Want- wanted
Fail- failed
Visit- visited

Verbs ending in –E add Bake- baked

a-D Dance- danced
Like- liked
Live- lived
Hate- hated
Love- loved

Verbs ending in Stop- stopped

CONSONANT + Mop- mopped
VOWEL + Skip- skipped
CONSONANT Chop- chopped
Double the last Shop- shopped
consonant and add -
ED

Verbs ending in Study- studied

CONSONANT + Y Carry- carried
change “Y” to “I” and Worry- worried
add - ED Hurry- hurried
Dry- dried

Watch the video on this link Past Tense

paying attention the rules to pronounce
the regular verbs in the past.

Remember, Rule 1: If the verb base

ends in a voiceless s o u n d
d, then the –
ed ending sounds like “t”. The “t” is
blended together with the previous
consonant and not pronounced as an
extra syllable. Rule 2: If the verb base
ends in a voiced s o u n d
d, then the –ed
ending sounds like “d”.

Exercise 1
Regular verbs
Now, do the following exercise to practice
what you have studied about the
pronunciation of regular verbs.

Exercise 1

Irregular verbs
In the case of irregular verbs, you have to
memorise their tense patterns or changes.
Watch the following video on Youtube.

Click on the link irregular verbs to watch it.

Another tip to help you memorise them is to

group them according to their patterns.

Group 1
All three forms of the verb are the same

Base Form Simple Past Past Participle

bet bet bet

cost cost cost

cut cut cut

hit hit hit

hurt hurt hurt

let let let

put put put

shut shut shut

Group 2
The 2nd and 3rd forms of the verb are the
same

Base Form Simple Past Past Participle

lose lost lost

shoot shot shot

get got got

light lit lit

sit sat sat

keep kept kept

sleep slept slept

feel felt felt

leave left left

meet met met

bring brought brought

buy bought bought

fight fought fought

Group 3
All three forms of the verb are different

Base Form Simple Past Past Participle

drive drove driven

ride rode ridden

rise rose risen

write wrote written

bite bit bitten

hide hid hidden

break broke broken

choose chose chosen

speak spoke spoken

wake woke woken

blow blew blown

grow grew grown

know knew known

Exercise 2
Regular and irregular verbs
Now let’s practice. Can you make a
distinction between a regular and irregular
verb?

Exercise 2

Simple Past
structure
Do you remember Michelle’s conversation
with Diana?

Click on each title to see the sentence

structure in the simple past.

Affirmative
sentences

Negative sentences

Interrogative Form

Important note:

WAS/WERE IS NOT PART OF THIS

T O P I C . Do not use it when you want
to express actions in past.

Exercise 3
Sentence transformation
Now, you will practice the structure of simple
past in affirmative, interrogative and
negative. In the first part, write the past form
of the verb in the parentheses “()” to
complete the sentences. In part two change
affirmative sentences into negative
sentences. Finally, in part three, change the
negative sentences into interrogative
sentences.

Part one

Part two

Part three

Keep in mind it is necessary to use

the auxiliary DID in interrogative and
negative ideas. In the case of
affirmative ideas, you do not need an
auxiliary; the verb goes in simple past.

Reading
Activity 1
A peculiar pet
The simple past tense is used to describe
actions or events that take place in the past.
Now you will have to do the following activity
based on the contents of a text.

You will read a page of a teenager's diary

about an unusual pet. Identify the events in
the past and put them in order.

Activity 1

Listening
Activity 2
A survivor from the
Titanic
You will identify specific
information about past
actions. Listen to a part of a
Eva/Esther Hart.
(1910). Hart family
recording from a survivor of
[photo]. Retrieved the Titanic. Listen to the
on 2016, November
8 from audio twice and pause if
http://bit.ly/2usFaxg
necessary. Based on the
information, answer or
complete the sentences.

Click on the “play button” to

listen to the recording.

00:00 / 00:00

Activity 2

Writing
Activity 3
My autobiography

In this activity,
you will have When were you
to write your born? How old
autobiography are you? Where
by answering did you study
the questions elementary
on the right. school? Did you
To have a meet good
better idea, friends in there?
look at the What did you do
example during junior
provided. high school? How
did you decide to
study the major
you are studying?
When did you
receive your first
kiss? Did fall in
love with
someone
special? Where
and when?

This is my autobiography.

My name is Stella. I was born in

Quito, Ecuador. I am 23 years
old and studied elementary
public school in a town near
Quito. It was a great small
school. All the children in the
town went there to study.
There were not many students,
and I had good friends there.
When I was 15, I moved to
Mexico City and studied in a
public high school. It was
difficult because I did not know
many people, it was very
crowded and noisy. It was
difficult for me to adapt. I
remember people in my group
were loud, but now I know that
is the Mexican style. They were
great with me, and we went to
many parties. Then I decided to
study art. I remember painting
since I was a little girl and
everybody loved what I did.

When I was 15 I got my first

kiss, it was a goodbye kiss
because I was moving to
Mexico. German, a boy who
studied with me, didn’t want
me to return to Ecuador. He
was very friendly and kind to
me. I liked him very much, but I
did not love him. People from
Ecuador are friendly and
generous. We love our
freedom, and in my case, I take
love pretty seriously. That is
why I think I have never fallen
in love.

When you finish, use the rubrics to evaluate

your progress.

Rubric

Speaking
Activity 4
A memorable
celebration

Do you remember Read the example

a special birthday carefully so that
celebration? you have an idea of
what to record for
Think of the
your description.
answers to these
questions.

• When was it?

• Where did you
spend the day in?
• What did you
wear?
• What did you eat?
• What did you
drink?
• What presents
did you receive?
• What did you do
that day?

You will record

yourself describing
that day. It is
important that you
use complete ideas
in past tense and
that you answer all
the questions. Your
description should
be organized in
three paragraphs.

00:00 / 00:00

Rubric
 Self-
assessment
Use of simple past

Now that you know the rules and use of past

tense, complete the following exercise.

You will complete a text writing in the box

the verbs in the parenthesis in past tense in
affirmative, negative or interrogative. To
evaluate your answer click on the C h e c k
button. At the end of the exercise, you will
know your score.

Self-assessment

References
Basic references
• Murphy, R. (1997). Essential grammar in use: A self-study

reference and practice book for elementary students of

English: with answers. Cambridge, U.K: Cambridge University

Press.

• Oxenden, C. Latham-Koenig, C. (2013). American English File

1. Oxford, U.K. Oxford University Press.

Complementary references
• Coe, N., Harrison, M. y Patrson, K. (2006). Oxford Practice

Grammar. Oxford, U.K: Oxford University Press.

• Coordinación de Universidad Abierta y Educación a Distancia-

UNAM. (2011). English Media. Retrieved on 2016, November 13

from http://www.cuaed.unam.mx/english_media/.

Videos
• Elemental English. (2013). [t], [d] or [ld]? | "-ed" Past Tense |

English Pronunciation [video]. Retrieved on 2016, November 13

from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j32SurxnE4s

• Michael English. (2014). MC Fluency – Irregular verbs rap with

lyrics [video]. Retrieved on 2016, November 13 from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P5StOplPbM.

Desarrollado por:

Aviso
Coordinación de Universidad Abierta y Educación a Distancia de la UNAM.

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