GRAMMAR:

PAST SIMPLE
Introduction to Past Simple Tense

SAS, GEP Level 8B, STM Campus

 Past Simple
(Verb ”to be”
Past Simple - Usage Vs
Verbs other than “to be”)
1. We use “Past Simple” to describe finished or completed action/situation in the past.
○ I watched a film last night.
○ He won the world cup in 1993.

2. We use “Past Simple” to talk about repeated events, or habits in the past.
○ When he was young, he always walked to school.
○ When Fred was in the army, he went to many countries.

3. We use “Past Simple” to describe sequence of actions. Sometimes, the actions follow
immediately after each other.
○ When we got to the junction, I took the left turn.

4. We use “Past Simple” with time expression such as yesterday, last night, the day before
yesterday, last week/month/year, two days/years/months/weeks ago…
○ He graduated from his university yesterday.
○ Last night, I walked to Ms. Ann’s house with my friend. 2
Regular and Irregular Verbs (1)
Regular verbs are verbs that follow a regular pattern when switching between forms (present
simple, past simple and past participles). The rule is to add “-ed”, “-ied” or “-d” to the
based form of the verb to create past simple form.

1. Add “–ed” to most of the verbs.

○ jump / paint / walk jumped / painted / walked

2. Add “-d” to the verbs that end in “-e”.

○ decide / phone / arrive decided / phoned /arrived

3. Verbs that end in a consonant with “-y”, we take away “-y” and add “-ied”.
○ study / cry / try studied / cried / tried
Vowel + Consonant => Double Consonant
4. Verbs that end in one vowel + one consonant, we double the consonant and add “-ed”.
○ stop / chat / prefer stopped / chatted / preferred

5. If the final consonant is “w”, “x” or “y”, don’t double theVowel + “w, x,
consonant. y” => Don’t Double Consonant

○ sew / play / fix sewed / played / fixed

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Regular and Irregular Verbs (2)
Irregular verbs are verbs that do not follow a regular pattern when switching between forms
(present simple, past simple and past participles). The rule of adding “-ed”, “-ied” or “-d”
to the based form of the regular verb can not be used with irregular verbs.

1. Irregular verbs are formed by changing vowels.

○ begin / drink began / drank

2. Irregular verbs are formed by changing consonants.

○ send / make sent / made

3. Irregular verbs are formed by changing vowels and consonants.

○ teach / fly taught / flew

4. There is no change in forms for some verbs.

○ let / cut let / cut

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Past Simple with “To Be”
1. In affirmative form, we conjugate ”to be” with respect to its subject. Take a look at the
following tables.

Subject Pronouns To Be Examples

I was I was at my grandparents’ home yesterday.
You were late for the party.
You / We / They were We were very tired yesterday.
They were born in 1943.
She was my student.
He / She / It was He was very mad at you at the party.
It was a very good experience.

wasn’t = was not

2. In negative form, we conjugate ”to be” with respect to its subject and then we add “not”.
○ It wasn’t difficult. weren’t = were not
○ His parents weren’t happy.
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Past Simple with “To Be”
3. In interrogative form, we changed to position of was / were with the subject. Here is the
form of Past Simple in interrogative form.

Was / Were + Subject + (Object / Complement) + ?

○ Was I in Italy last week? Yes, I was. / No, I wasn’t.
○ Was Sophia sleepy? Yes, she was. / No, she wasn’t.
○ Were they at work? Yes, they were. / No, they weren’t.

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Past Simple with verbs other than “To Be”
1. In affirmative form, we conjugate the verbs according to its form.
○ I talked to her about the exam last night.
○ He studied physics in the university.
○ I always understood the lessons well.

2. In negative form, unlike “to be”, we use auxiliary verb “did” with not.
○ I didn’t talk to her about the exam last night. (not didn’t talked)
○ He didn’t study physics in the university. (not didn’t studied)
○ I didn’t always understand the lessons well. (not didn’t understood)

3. In interrogative form, unlike “to be”, we use auxiliary verb “did”.

Did + Subject + Verb + (Object / Complement) + ?

○ Did he study physics at the university? Yes, he did. / No, he didn’t.
○ Did you always understand the lesson well? Yes, I did. / No, I didn’t
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 GRAMMAR:
PAST PERFECT
Introduction to Past Perfect Tense

SAS, GEP Level 8B, STM Campus

Past Perfect Tense - Usage
1. We use “Past Simple” to describe sequence of actions. Sometimes, the actions follow
immediately after each other.
○ When we got to the junction, I took the left turn.

2. We use “Past Perfect” to describe past event which happens before another past event in
the past.
○ When we got back, the babysitter went home.
(We got back => Babysitter went home)
○ When we got back, the babysitter had gone home.
(Babysitter went home => we got back)

3. We use “Past Perfect” with time expression such as before/after/as soon as/….to make the
order of events clear.
○ By the time (=before) the ship reached the island, more than twenty sailors had died.
○ More than twenty sailors died before the ship reached the island.
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Past Perfect Tense
4.  We use “Past Perfect” for the action or event that happened first. Use the “Past Simple” for
●
the one that happened second.

5. Already, always, ever, just, and never usually go before the past participle.
○ Had you ever noticed that sign before?
○ She had never eaten that lobster before.

6. or are often used with “Past Perfect”

○ By 5pm, it had rained 2 inches.
○ By the time we finished dinner, the rain had stopped.

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Past Perfect Tense
4. “Before and After” can be used with ”past simple/past perfect”. Note that, if either “Before”
or “After” is used in the sentence, the ”past perfect” is not necessary because of the time.
○ Sam had left before Ann got here.
○ Sam left before Ann got here.
○ After the guests had left, I went to bed.
○ After the guests left, I went to bed.

5. Remember these rule:

Past Perfect + before + Past Tense Past Tense + after + Past Perfect

Past Tense + before + Past Tense Past Tense + until + Past Perfect

Past Perfect + when + Past Tense Past Tense + as soon as + Past Perfect
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TIMELINE
Simple Perfect

Shows that a completed action Shows that something happened

Description took place at a specific time in before another action in the past
the past

Timeline X X X
P Now F P Now F

Example I ate rice yesterday. I had eaten all of the rice when you
arrived.

Subject, Verb, S + V2 + O
Object S + ’had’ + V3 + O

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Past Perfect
1. In affirmative form, we conjugate ”have” in past simple tense with “past participle” . Take a
look at the following tables.

Subject Pronouns Past Simple “have”+ V_3 Examples

I had done I had gone home late.
You had gone home late.
You / We / They had done We had gone home late.
They had gone home late..
She had gone home late.
had done
He / She / It He had gone home late.
It had gone home late.

2. In negative form, we conjugate “have” in past simple tense and then we add “not” before
“past participle”.
○ I hadn’t gone home late.
○ His parents hadn’t gone home late. 13
 GRAMMAR:
USED TO
Introduction to Past Habits

SAS, GEP Level 8B, STM Campus

Past Habit – Used to
1. We use “Used to” to talk about habits or repeated actions in the past, which we don’t do
in the present.
○ He used to smoke. (but now he doesn’t smoke)
○ They used to live in India. (but now they live in Germany)

2. We use “Used to” with infinitive. The negative for “used to” is “didn’t use to”.
○ When I was young, I used to walk to school.
○ He used to go on holiday to Scotland every year.
○ He didn’t use to smoke.
○ Did he use to smoke?

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