UNIT 1:

MEETING SALVADORAN
PERSONALITIES

CONTENT ONE
Simple Past and Past Continuous
Reading His pen name was “Salarrué.” He was a writer as
well as a painter. He was born in Sonsonate on
October 22, 1899 and died in Los Planes de
Renderos on November 27, 1975. He studied at
the Corcoran School of Arts in Washington D.C.
from 1916 to 1919. In 1922 he married the
Salvadoran painter, Zélie Lardé. They had three
daughters, Olga, Aída and Maya, all three of
whom ended up working in the field of arts.
Salarrué’s published works include:
“El Cristo Negro” (1926), “El Señor de la
Burbuja”
(1927), “O’Yarkandal” (1932), “Remontando el
Uluán”
(1932), “Cuentos de Barro” (1934), “Cuentos de
Cipotes” (1961), and “Mundo Nomasito” (1975).
Simple Past (review)

The simple past is a verb tense that is used to talk about

things that happened or existed before now. Imagine
someone asks what your brother Wolfgang did while he
was in town last weekend.
Examples:
1. Wolfgang entered a hula hoop contest.

2. He won the silver medal.

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.

You 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.
Examples:
Wolfgang was proud of his hula hoop victory.
The contest was the highlight of his week.
 How to Formulate the Simple Past
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.
Example:
 Wolfgang polished his medal. The other winners polished their medals too.
 How to Make the Simple Past Negative
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 be).
The formula is did not + [root form of verb]. You can also use the
contraction didn’t instead of did not.
example:
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.
Example:
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.
 How to Ask a Question
The formula for asking a question in the simple past tense is did +
[subject] + [root form of verb].
Example:
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].
Example:
Was Wolfgang in a good mood after the contest? Were people
taking lots of pictures?
 Past Continuous (review)
The past continuous tense, also known as the past progressive
tense, refers to a continuing action or state that was happening
at some point in the past. The past continuous tense is formed
by combining the past tense of to be (i.e., was/were) with the
verb’s present participle (-ing word).
There are many situations in which this verb tense might be
used in a sentence. For example, it is often used to describe
conditions that existed in the past.
Examples:
The sun was shining every day that summer.
As I spoke, the children were laughing at my cleverness.
It can also be used to describe something that was
happening continuously in the past when another action
interrupted it.
Examples:
The audience was applauding until he fell off the
stage.
I was making dinner when she arrived.

The past continuous can shed light on what was

happening at a precise time in the past.
At 6 o’clock, I was eating dinner.
Make the past simple, positive, negative or question
1) I ________
Didn’t drink (not/drink) any beer last night.

2) She _______(get
Got on on) the bus in the centre of the city.
3) What time Did ________
he get up (he/get up) yesterday?

4) Where __________
Did youy get off (you/get off) the train?
5) I Didn’t
_________
change (not/change) trains at Victoria.
6) We _________
Woke up (wake up) very late.
7) What _________
Did he give (he/give) his mother for Christmas?
8) I ________
received (receive) £300 when my uncle died.
9) We ________
Didn’t use (not/use) the computer last night.
10) __________
Did she make
(she/make) good coffee?
11) They __________(live)
lived
in Paris.
12) She __________(read)
read
the newspaper yesterday.
13) I __________(not/watch)
Didn’t watch
TV.
14) He __________(not/study) for the exam.
Didn’t study
15) __________(he/call) you?
Did he call
Make the positive or negative past continuous
1) JulieWas
________
sleeping (sleep) at three o'clock.

2) You __________(study)
Were studying at three o'clock.
3) Luke ___________(read)
Was reading at three o'clock.
4) I ____________
Was working (work) at three o'clock.
5) They __________(eat)
Were eating chocolate at three o'clock.
6) John ___________
Was playign (play) tennis at three o'clock.
7) We ____________
Were watching (watch) TV at three o'clock.
8) He ____________
Was using (use) the internet at three o'clock.
9) You ____________
Were cooking (cook) lunch at three o'clock.
10) We ____________
Were travelling
(travel) to London at three o'clock.
11) Mrs Brown ___________
Wasn’t walking
(not/walk) in the garden when the murder happened.
12) Mr Black _____________
Wasn’t working
(not/work) in his study when the murder happened.
13) Miss Jones _____________(not/talk)
Wasn’t talking
to Mr. White when the murder happened.
14) You _____________(not/play) cards when the murder happened.
Weren’t playing
15) Dr Ford ____________ (not/read) in his room when the murder happened.
Wasn’t reading
 HOMEWORK
Investigate the biography of any important personality of El Salvador.
Example:
Joaquin Eufrasio Guzman served as the President of
El Salvador in 1845-1846. This biography profiles his
childhood, life, career, achievements and timeline.
Born:1801
Famous: Military Leaders
Died At Age:74
Born In:Cartago
Famous As:Former President Of El Salvador
Died On:1875
Place Of Death:San Miguel, El Salvador

https://www.kidpaw.com/famous-people/nationality/salvadoran