Grammar Focus: Nominal Past Tense, Verbal Past Tense, and Regular Vs Irregular Verbs
There are two tenses in English – past and present.
ü
The
past tense in English is used:
·
to talk about
the past
·
to talk about hypotheses – things that are imagined
rather than true.
·
for politeness.
There are four
past tense forms in English:
Tense Form
|
|
Past simple:
|
I worked
|
Past
continuous:
|
I was working
|
Past perfect:
|
I had worked
|
Past perfect
continuous:
|
I had been
working
|
ü
We
use these forms:
1. To talk about the past:
·
He worked at McDonald’s. He had worked there since July..
·
He was working at McDonald’s. He had been working since July.
2. To refer to the present or future in conditions:
·
He could get a
new job if he really tried.
·
If Jack was playing they would probably win.
·
and hypotheses:
·
It might be
dangerous. Suppose they got lost.
·
I would always
help someone who really needed help
·
and wishes:
·
I wish it wasn’t so cold.
3. In conditions, hypotheses and wishes,
if we want to talk about the past,
we always use the past perfect:
·
I would have
helped him if he had asked.
·
It was very
dangerous, What if you had got lost?
·
I wish I hadn’t spent so much money last month.
4. We can use the past forms to talk about the present in a few polite expressions:
·
Excuse me, I was wondering if this was the train for York.
·
I just hoped you would be able to help me.
1. SIMPLE PAST TENSE/PAST SIMPLE
Ø
DEFINITION OF THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE
The simple past tense, sometimes called
the preterite, is used to talk about a completed
action in a time before now. The
simple past is the basic form of past tense in English. The time of the action
can be in the recent past or the distant past and action duration is not
important.
EXAMPLES
§
John Cabot sailed to America in 1498.
§
My father died last year.
§
He lived in Fiji in 1976.
§
We crossed the Channel yesterday.
|
Ø
You always use
the simple past when you say when something happened, so it is associated with
certain past time expressions:
§
frequency:
often, sometimes, always
1. I sometimes walked home at lunchtime.
2. I often brought my lunch to school.
§
a
definite point in time: last week, when I was a child, yesterday,
six weeks ago
1. We saw a good film last week.
2. Yesterday, I arrived in Geneva.
3. She finished her work atseven o'clock
4. I went to the theatre last
night
§
an indefinite point in time: the other day,
ages ago, a long time ago
1. People lived in caves a long time
ago.
2. She played the piano when she was
a child.
Note: the word ago is a useful way of expressing the
distance into the past. It is placed after
the period of time: a week ago, three years ago, a minute ago.
Be Careful:
The simple past in English may look like a tense in your own language, but
the meaning may be different.
|
Ø
FORMING THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE
PATTERNS OF SIMPLE PAST TENSE FOR REGULAR
VERBS
Affirmative
|
Subject + verb +
ed
|
I skipped.
|
Negative
|
Subject + did not + infinitive without
to
|
They didn't go.
|
Interrogative
|
Did +
subject +
infinitive without to
|
Did she arrive?
|
Interrogative negative
|
Did not + subject + infinitive without
to
|
Didn't you play?
|
To Walk
|
||||||
SIMPLE
PAST TENSE OF TO BE, TO HAVE, TO DO
Subject Verb
|
|||
Be
|
Have
|
Do
|
|
I
|
was
|
had
|
did
|
You
|
were
|
had
|
did
|
He/She/It
|
was
|
had
|
did
|
We
|
were
|
had
|
did
|
You
|
were
|
had
|
did
|
They
|
were
|
had
|
did
|
NOTES
ON AFFIRMATIVE, NEGATIVE, & INTERROGATIVE FORMS
AFFIRMATIVE
The
affirmative of the simple past tense is simple.
§ I was in
Japan last year
§ She had a
headache yesterday.
§ We did
our homework last night.
NEGATIVE
AND INTERROGATIVE
For the negative and interrogative simple past form
of "to do" as an ordinary verb, use the auxiliary "did",
e.g. We didn't do our homework last
night. The negative of "have" in the simple past is usually formed
using the auxiliary "did", but sometimes by simply adding not or the
contraction "n't".
The
interrogative form of "have" in the simple past normally uses the
auxiliary "did".
EXAMPLES
§
They weren't in Rio last summer.
§
We didn't have any money.
§
We didn't have time to visit the Eiffel Tower.
§
We didn't do our exercises this morning.
§
Were
they in Iceland last January?
§
Did
you have a bicycle when you were young?
§
Did
you do much climbing in Switzerland?
|
Note: For the negative and interrogative form of all
verbs in the simple past, always use the auxiliary “did”.
SIMPLE
PAST, IRREGULAR VERBS
Some
verbs are irregular in the simple past. Here are the most common ones.
TO
GO
1. He went
to a club last night.
2. Did he go
to the cinema last night?
3. He didn't go to
bed early last night.
TO
GIVE
1. We gave her
a doll for her birthday.
2. They didn't
give John their new address.
3. Did Barry give you my passport?
TO
COME
1. My parents came
to visit me last July.
2. We didn't
come because it was raining.
3. Did he come to your party last week?
2. PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE
Ø
FUNCTIONS OF THE PAST CONTINUOUS
The
past continuous describes actions or events in a time before now, which began in the past and is still going on at the time of speaking. In other words, it
expresses an unfinished or incomplete action in the past.
It is used:
§ Often, to describe the background in a story written
in the past tense,
e.g. "The sun was shining and the birds were singing as the elephant came out
of the jungle. The other animals were
relaxing in the shade of the trees, but the elephant moved very quickly.
She was looking for her baby, and
she didn't notice the hunter who was
watching her through his binoculars. When the shot rang out, she was running towards the river..."
§ to describe an
unfinished action that was interrupted by another event
sssor action, e.g.
"I was having a beautiful dream
when the alarm clock
rang."
§ to express a
change of mind: e.g. "I was going
to spend the day at the
beach but I've decided to get my homework done
instead."
§ with 'wonder',
to make a very polite request: e.g. "I was wondering if you could baby-sit for me tonight."
EXAMPLES
§ They
were waiting for the bus when the accident happened.
§ Caroline
was skiing when she broke her leg.
§ When
we arrived he was having a bath.
§ When
the fire started I was watching television.
|
Note: with verbs not normally used in the continuous
form, the simple past is used.
Ø
FORMING THE PAST CONTINUOUS
Subject was/were base + ing
|
They were watching
|
Affirmative
|
She was reading
|
Negative
|
She wasn't reading
|
Interrogative
|
Was she reading?
|
Interrogative negative
|
Wasn't she reading?
|
The past continuous of any verb is composed of two
parts : the past tense of the verb "to be" (was/were), and the base
of the main verb +ing.
TO PLAY, PAST
CONTINUOUS
Affirmative
|
Negative
|
Interrogative
|
I was playing
|
I was not playing
|
Was I playing?
|
You were playing
|
You were not playing
|
Were you playing?
|
He was playing
|
He wasn't playing
|
Was he playing?
|
We were playing
|
We weren't playing
|
Were we playing?
|
They were playing
|
They weren't playing
|
Were they playing?
|
3. PAST
PERFECT TENSE
Ø
FUNCTIONS OF THE PAST PERFECT
The past perfect refers to a time earlier than before now. It is used to
make it clear that one event happened
before another in the past. It does not matter which event is mentioned
first - the tense makes it clear which one happened first.
In these examples, Event A is the event that
happened first and Event B is the second or more recent event:
Event A
|
Event B
|
John had gone out
|
when I
arrived in the office.
|
Event A
|
Event B
|
I had saved my document
|
before the
computer crashed.
|
Event B
|
Event A
|
When they
arrived
|
we had already started cooking.
|
Event B
|
Event A
|
He was very
tired
|
because he hadn't slept well.
|
Ø FORMING THE PAST PERFECT
The Past Perfect tense in English
is composed of two parts: the past tense of the verb to have (had) + the past
participle of the main verb.
Subject had past
participle
|
Affirmative
|
She had given
|
Negative
|
She hadn't asked
|
Interrogative
|
Had they arrived?
|
Interrogative
Negative
|
Hadn't you finished?
|
TO DECIDE, PAST PERFECT
Affirmative
|
Negative
|
Interrogative
|
I had decided
|
I hadn't decided
|
Had I decided?
|
You had decided
|
You hadn't decided
|
Had you decided?
|
She had decided
|
She hadn't decided
|
Had she decided?
|
We had decided
|
We hadn't decided
|
Had we decided?
|
They had decided
|
They hadn't decided
|
Had they decided?
|
Ø PAST PERFECT + JUST
“Just” is used with the past
perfect to refer to an event that was only a short time earlier than before
now, e.g.
§
The train had
just left when I arrived at the station.
§
She had just left the room when the police
arrived.
§
I had just put the washing out when it
started to rain.
4. PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS
Ø
FUNCTIONS OF THE PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS
The past perfect continuous
corresponds to the present perfect continuous, but with reference to a time
earlier than 'before now'. As with the present perfect continuous, we are more
interested in the process.
EXAMPLES
§ Had you been waiting long before the taxi
arrived?
§ We had been trying to open the door for
five minutes when Jane found her key.
§ It had been raining hard for several hours
and the streets were very wet.
§ Her friends had been thinking of calling the
police when she walked in.
|
This form is also used in reported speech. It is the equivalent of the past continuous and
the present perfect continuous in direct speech:
§
Jane said,
"I have been gardening all afternoon." = Jane said she had been gardening all afternoon.
§
When the police
questioned him, John said, "I was working late in the office that
night." = When the police questioned him, John told them he had been working late in the office
that night.
Ø
FORMING THE PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS
The past perfect continuous is
composed of two elements - the past perfect of the verb to be (=had been) + the
present participle (base+ing)
Subject had
been verb
+ ing
|
I had
been walking
|
Affirmative
|
She had
been trying
|
Negative
|
She hadn't
been sleeping
|
Interrogative
|
Had
you been eating?
|
Interrogative negative
|
Hadn't
they been living?
|
TO
BUY, PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS
Affirmative
|
Negative
|
Interrogative
|
I had been buying
|
I hadn't been buying
|
Had I been buying?
|
You had been buying
|
You hadn't been
buying
|
Had you been buying?
|
She had been buying
|
She hadn't been
buying
|
Had she been buying?
|
We had been buying
|
We hadn't been buying
|
Had we been buying?
|
They had been buying
|
They hadn't been
buying
|
Had they been buying?
|
NOMINAL PAST TENSE AND VERBAL PAST TENSE
Additional explanations about the nominal sentences
and verbal sentence (Simple past tense) for more details
1. SIMPLE PAST TENSE ( Nominal Sentence)
+)
S + was/were + complement. was
: I, he, she,it
(-)
S + was/were + not + complement. were :
you, they, we
(?)
was/were + S + complement?
Example
:
(+)
I was in Surabaya last week.
(-)
I was not Surabaya last week.
(?)
was I in Jakarta last week?
2. SIMPLE PAST TENSE ( Verbal sentence)
Ø
Formula :
(+)
S + V2 + O + time signal.
(-)
S + did + not + V2 + O + time signal.
(?)
did + S + V1 + O + time signal?
Ø
Usage :
To
declare events that occurred in the past with a clear timeline.
Ø
Example :
(+)
I ate cake yesterday
(-)
I did not eat cake yesterday
(?)
did I eat cake yesterday?
Ø
Time signal :
- Yesterday :
kemarin
- Last…… :……yang lalu
- Last night :
kemarin malam
- Last week :
minggu yang lalu
- ………ago :…… yang lalu
- Three days ago : tiga hari yang lalu
- Two years ago :
dua hari yang lau
Ø
Example:
My
father gave me a gift last week.
Ø
Question word :
Formula
:
(subject) : QWs + V2 + O?
(verb) : QWv + Did + S + do?
(object) : QWo + Did + S + V1?
(adverb) : QWa + Did + S + V1?
Ø
Example :
My
father went to supermarket last night.
a b
c d
a. Who went to supermarket last night?
b. What did my father do last night?
c. Where did my father go last night?
d. When did my father go to Supermarket?
To
better understand the simple past tense then , look at the differences the
formula based on the table below about simple past tense ( Verbal sentence and
Nominal sentence):
Form
|
Formulation
|
Example
of sentence
|
|
+
|
Verbal
|
S + Verb-2
|
She killed a snake yesterday
|
Nominal
|
S + was/were + nominal
|
I was there but you did not see
me
|
|
-
|
Verbal
|
S + did + not +infinitve
|
She did not know where to go
|
Nominal
|
S + was/were + not + nominal
|
When I was a child, I used to
cry
|
|
?
|
Verbal
|
Did + S + Infinitive
|
Did you take my money?
|
Nominal
|
Was/were + S + nominal?
|
Was the case hard to solve?
|
|
Regular
Vs Irregular Verbs
In
the context of verbs, we use the term inflection
to talk about the process of changing a verb form to show tense, mood,
number (i.e. singular or plural), and person (i.e. first person, second person,
or third
person). This section deals with inflecting verbs to show tenses and
participles, and is divided into two main sections:
Regular verbs
Irregular verbs
ü Regular verbs
Many
English verbs are regular, which
means that they form their different tenses according to an established
pattern. Such verbs work like this:
3rd person
|
3rd person
|
|||
Verb
|
Singular
|
Singular
|
Past Participle
|
Present Participle
|
Present tense
|
Past tense
|
|||
laugh
|
he/she/laughs
|
he/she/laughed
|
laughed
|
laughing
|
love
|
he/she/loves
|
he/she/loved
|
loved
|
loving
|
boo
|
he/she/boos
|
he/she/booed
|
booed
|
booing
|
·
Present
tense formation
In
the present
simple tense, the basic form of a regular verb only changes in the 3rd
person singular, as follows:
Ø Most verbs just add -s to the basic form (e.g. take/takes,
seem/seems, look/looks).
Ø Verbs that end with a vowel other than e add -es
(e.g. go/goes, veto/vetoes, do/does).
Ø Verbs that end with -s, -z, -ch, -sh, and -x add -es
(e.g. kiss/kisses, fizz/fizzes, punch/punches, wash/washes, mix/mixes).
Ø If the verb ends in a consonant plus -y, change the
y to an i before adding -es (e.g. hurry/hurries, clarify/clarifies). But if the
verb ends in a vowel plus -y, just add -s (e.g. play/plays, enjoy/enjoys).
·
Past
tense formation
Forming
the past
simple tense of regular verbs is mostly straightforward, and you use the
same form for the first, second, and third persons, singular and plural:
Ø If the basic form of the verb ends in a consonant or
a vowel other than e, add the letters -ed to the end (e.g. seem/seemed, laugh/laughed,
look/looked).
Ø For verbs that end in -e, add -d (e.g. love/loved,
recede/receded, hope/hoped).
Ø If the verb ends in a consonant plus -y, change the
y to an i before adding -ed (e.g. hurry/hurried, clarify/clarified). But if the
verb ends in a vowel plus -y, just add -ed (e.g. play/played, enjoy/enjoyed).
For
more detail, see Verb tenses: adding-ed-and-ing at
the bottom of explanation after irregular verbs.
·
Forming
participles
To
form the past
participle of regular verbs, follow the same rules as for the past
simple tense above.
To
make the present
participle of regular verbs:
Ø If the basic form of the verb ends in a consonant or
a vowel other than e, add the ending -ing (e.g. laugh/laughing, boo/booing).
Ø If the verb ends in e, drop the e before adding -ing
(e.g. love/loving, hope/hoping).
Ø If the basic form ends in y just add -ing (e.g.
hurry/hurrying, clarify/clarifying).
For
more detail, see Verb tenses: adding-ed-and-ing at the bottom explantion after
irregular verbs.
ü Irregular verbs
There
are many irregular verbs that don’t follow the normal rules. Here are the forms
of some of the most common irregular verbs:
3rd
person
|
3rd
person
|
|||
Verb
|
Singular
|
Singular
|
Past
participle
|
Present
participle
|
Present
tense
|
Past
tense
|
|||
be
|
is
|
was
|
been
|
being
|
begin
|
begins
|
began
|
begun
|
beginning
|
bite
|
bites
|
bit
|
bitten
|
bitting
|
break
|
breaks
|
broke
|
broken
|
breaking
|
buy
|
buys
|
bought
|
bought
|
buying
|
choose
|
chooses
|
chose
|
chosen
|
choosing
|
come
|
comes
|
came
|
come
|
coming
|
dig
|
digs
|
dug
|
dug
|
digging
|
do
|
does
|
did
|
done
|
doing
|
drink
|
drinks
|
drank
|
drunk
|
drinking
|
eat
|
eats
|
ate
|
eaten
|
eating
|
fall
|
falls
|
fell
|
fallen
|
falling
|
feels
|
feels
|
felt
|
felt
|
feeling
|
find
|
finds
|
found
|
found
|
finding
|
get
|
gets
|
got
|
got
|
getting
|
go
|
goes
|
went
|
gone
|
going
|
grow
|
grows
|
grew
|
grown
|
growing
|
have
|
has
|
had
|
had
|
having
|
hide
|
hides
|
hid
|
hidden
|
hiding
|
keep
|
keeps
|
kept
|
kept
|
keeping
|
know
|
knows
|
knew
|
known
|
knowing
|
lay
|
lays
|
laid
|
laid
|
laying
|
lead
|
leads
|
led
|
led
|
leading
|
leave
|
leaves
|
left
|
left
|
leaving
|
lie
|
lies
|
lay
|
lain
|
lying
|
lose
|
loses
|
lost
|
lost
|
losing
|
make
|
makes
|
made
|
made
|
making
|
meet
|
meets
|
met
|
met
|
meeting
|
put
|
puts
|
put
|
put
|
putting
|
read/ri:d/
|
reads
|
read/red
|
read/red
|
reading
|
ride
|
rides
|
rode
|
ridden
|
riding
|
ring
|
rings
|
rang
|
rung
|
ringing
|
rise
|
rises
|
rose
|
risen
|
rising
|
run
|
runs
|
ran
|
run
|
running
|
say
|
says
|
said
|
said
|
saying
|
see
|
sees
|
saw
|
seen
|
seeing
|
sell
|
sells
|
sold
|
sold
|
selling
|
set
|
sets
|
set
|
set
|
setting
|
sing
|
sings
|
sang
|
sung
|
singing
|
sit
|
sits
|
sat
|
sat
|
sitting
|
stand
|
stands
|
stood
|
stood
|
standing
|
stick
|
sticks
|
stuck
|
stuck
|
sticking
|
take
|
takes
|
took
|
taken
|
taking
|
teach
|
teaches
|
taught
|
taught
|
teaching
|
think
|
thinks
|
thought
|
thought
|
thinking
|
wake
|
wakes
|
woke
|
woken
|
waking
|
Note
that sometimes the spelling doesn’t change but the pronunciation does (e.g.
read). There are many more irregular verbs in English than those listed here.
If you aren’t sure how a verb behaves, it’s best to look it up. All irregular
verb forms are given in full at the main dictionary entry.
Verb tenses: adding -ed and -ing
The
basic form of a verb is called the infinitive. It normally occurs with the word
to as in ‘I want to ask you a question.’ Verbs may change their spelling
according to which tense is being used.
The
past tense refers to things that
happened in the past. To make the past tense of regular verbs, the ending -ed
is added to the infinitive ('I asked her a question'). The present participle refers to things that are still happening. To
make the present participle, the ending -ing is added to the infinitive ('I am
asking her a question').
Often
there's no need to make any other spelling changes when you add -ed and -ing to
the infinitive but there are some cases when it's necessary to do so. Here are
some rules to help you get it right:
ü Verbs ending with a silent e
If
the verb ends with an e that isn’t pronounced (as in bake or smile), then you
need to drop this final -e before adding -ed and -ing:
Verb
|
past tense
|
present
participle
|
bake
|
baked
|
baking
|
smile
|
smiled
|
smiling
|
Verbs
ending in -ee, -ye, and -oe (such as free, dye, and tiptoe) do not drop the
final -e when adding -ing:
verb
|
past tense
|
present
participle
|
free
|
freed
|
freeing
|
dye
|
dyed
|
dyeing
|
tiptoe
|
tiptoed
|
tiptoeing
|
A
very few verbs keep the final -e when adding -ing to distinguish them from similar
words. For example, singe becomes singeing rather than singing (which is the
present participle of sing).
ü Verbs ending with a vowel plus -l
If
the verb ends with a vowel plus -l (as in travel or equal), then you need to
double the l before adding -ed and -ing in British English:
verb
|
past tense
|
present
participle
|
travel
|
travelled
|
travelling
|
distil
|
distilled
|
distilling
|
equal
|
equalled
|
equalling
|
This
rule doesn’t apply in American English: see more information about the
differences between British and American spelling
ü Verbs ending with a single vowel plus
a consonant
If
the verb ends with a single vowel plus a consonant, and the stress is at the end of the
word (e.g. refer), then you need to double the final consonant before adding
-ed and –ing:
Verb
|
past tense
|
present
participle
|
admit
|
admitted
|
admitting
|
commit
|
committed
|
committing
|
refer
|
referred
|
referring
|
If
the verb ends with a vowel plus a consonant and the stress is not at the end of
the word, you don’t need to double the final consonant when adding -ed and
-ing:
verb
|
past tense
|
present
participle
|
inherit
|
inherited
|
inheriting
|
target
|
targeted
|
targeting
|
visit
|
visited
|
visiting
|
If
the verb has only one syllable and ends with a single vowel plus a
consonant (e.g. stop), then you need to double the final consonant before
adding -ed and -ing:
verb
|
past tense
|
present
participle
|
stop
|
stopped
|
stopping
|
tap
|
tapped
|
tapping
|
sob
|
sobbed
|
sobbing
|
ü Verbs ending with two vowels plus a
consonant
If
the verb ends with two vowels plus a consonant, you should generally not double
the final consonant:
verb
|
past tense
|
present
participle
|
treat
|
treated
|
treating
|
wheel
|
wheeled
|
wheeling
|
pour
|
poured
|
pouring
|
ü Verbs ending in -c
If
the verb ends in -c (e.g. panic), you need to add a -k before adding -ed and
-ing, and also -er.
verb
|
past tense
|
present
participle
|
related noun
|
picnic
|
picnicked
|
picnicking
|
picnicker
|
mimic
|
mimicked
|
mimicking
|
mimicker
|
traffic
|
trafficked
|
trafficking
|
trafficker
|
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