Simple Past

GROUP 3

SIMPLE PAST TENSE

Use the Simple Past to express the idea that an action started and finished at a specific time in the past. Sometimes, the speaker may not actually mention the specific time, but they do have one specific time in mind.

EXAMPLES

• I saw a movie yesterday.

• I didn't see a play yesterday.

• Last year, I traveled to Japan.

• Last year, I didn't travel to Korea.

Duration in Past

The Simple Past can be used with a duration which starts and stops in the past. A duration is a longer action often indicated by expressions such as: for two years, for five minutes, all day, all year, etc.

EXAMPLES:

• I lived in Brazil for two years.

• Shauna studied Japanese for five years.

• They sat at the beach all day.

• They did not stay at the party the entire time.

• We talked on the phone for thirty minutes

PAST OF “BE”

The past tense of "to be" is used to join a subject with a word or words that tell something about the subject that happened in the past. We often use words such as "yesterday" or phrases such as "last week" or "last year" to indicate when something happened in the past .

The verb "be" is an irregular verb. We use "was" with a singular pronoun or noun and "were" with a plural pronoun or noun. An exception to this is the pronoun "you" which always uses "were".

POSITIVE

• I was

• You were

• He was

• She was

• It was

• We were

• You were

• They were

EXAMPLES

I was a student.

The baby was tired.

She was fat.

You were sick.

It was a fast car.

We were wet.

You were friends.

The janitors were happy.

NEGATIVE FORM

The negative of the past tense of the verb "be" is formed by placing "not" after the verb.

For information on contractions (wasn't)

• I was not • I wasn't

• You were not • You weren't

• He was not • He wasn't

• She was not • She wasn't

• It was not • It wasn't

• We were not • We weren't

• You were not • You weren't

• They were not • They weren't

EXAMPLES

• I wasn't hungry.

• Andy wasn't tall.

• The furniture wasn't new.

• The living room was not neat.

• We weren't late.

• The men were not smart.

• Her

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