Simple Past Tense

The simple past tense is used for actions which took place at a given time in the past (yesterday, last night, last week, just now, etc)

Actions that denote the past can be in the regular form or irregular form.

       e.g.

Regular Verb	Irregular Verb
smile  –  smiled           roll     –  rolled  open  –  opened  wash  -  washed	throw –   threw   catch   –  caught          sleep   –   slept          give    –   gave

The simple past tense of regular verbs can be formed in several ways:

(a)   by adding ‘ed’ to the verbs;

      e.g. jump – jumped

             help – helped

(b)  by adding ‘d’ to verbs that end wth an ‘e’;

      e.g. bake – baked

            close – closed

(c)   If the verb ends with a ‘y’ and a consonant precedes the ‘ y’, change the ‘y’ to ‘ied’.

     e.g. cry – cried

            fry – fried

   Some verbs remain unchanged.

               e.g. cut – cut

                      hit – hit

Exercise

Choose the correct answer.

1.     It ( rained , rain ) heavily last night.

2.     We ( help , helped ) the old lady to cress the road just now.

3.     The policeman ( arrested , arrest ) the thief last night.

4.     She ( drink , drank ) a glass of milk this morning.

5.     My father ( take , took ) us fishing last week.

6.     It ( is , was ) already eleven thirty when we ( reach , reached ) home last night.

7.     The eagle ( swooped , swoops ) down and ( caught , catch ) the hare just now.

8.     Sook Man ( bake , baked ) an orange cake an hour ago.

9.     I ( forget , forgot ) to lock the door last night.

10.            The gardener ( chop , chopped ) down the tree yesterday.

Answer:

1.     rained                        6. was; reached   

2.     helped                       7. swooped; caught

3.     arrested                     8. baked

4.     drank                        9. forgot

5.     took                          10. chopped