ESLGold Simple Past Tense Lyrics

Explanation

1. The simple past tense is expressed with the past form of the verb and nothing else.

My grandfather died last year.Correct
My grandfather was died last year.Wrong
My grandfather has died last year. Wrong

2. The simple past tense refers to

a. action which occurred at a specific time in the past
b. completed action
c. past status
Examples
Specific past action
I ate lunch at noon today.
He drove to work yesterday.
Completed action
She finally mailed the letter.
Jan finished her report on time.
Past status
John was still single in 1995.
Jane was a movie star.

Note the usage of the past tense in the following story.
Yesterday Mrs. Hubbard had a very rough day. In the morning, she went to the kitchen and looked in the cupboard for some food for her dog, but the cupboard was empty. Her poor dog stared up at her with its hungry eyes, and she knew she had to do something quickly. She hurried to the grocery store to buy some dog food, but unfortunately the store was out of her dog's favorite brand, so she had to catch a bus downtown. After buying the food, she waited for a half hour in the rain to get a taxi. When she finally got home, her dog was sound asleep on the living room sofa.

Common problems with the past tense

1. Using the present tense when the past tense is required.

Last week, Tonya fix her neighbor's car.Wrong
Last week, Tonya fixed her neighbor's car. Correct

2. Using "was" with verbs in the past tense.

It was happened one night in September.Wrong
It happened one night in September. Correct

Sample Past Tense

Yesterday, I had a very rough day. I got up early to go shopping, but as soon as I stepped out of the door, it began to rain, so I had to go back to the apartment and get my umbrella. The elevator was out, so I had to climb six flights of stairs to get to my place. When I got back downstairs, I was so exhausted that I had to sit down on a bench to rest. By that time, it had stopped raining, but the ground was still wet. A brown dog came to where I was sitting and begged for something to eat. I tried to ignore him, but he splashed water all over my brand new shoes. Finally, the bus came, and I was on my way to the supermarket.

When I got to the supermarket, I realized I had forgotten my shopping list, so I couldn't remember everything I wanted to buy. The cashier was too busy to help me, so I gathered up a few items and carried them to the counter. After the cashier finished ringing up my purchase, he gave me the wrong change and stuffed my groceries into my small shopping cart. I was not in a good mood when I left the supermarket.

If that wasn't bad enough, I had a terrible time on the bus ride home. First, the bus driver yelled at me because I took too much time to get on. Couldn't he see that I had a cart full of groceries? Then, there were not seats. I'm sure that someone on the bus could have offered me a place to sit, but everyone was so rude. They pretended not to see me. I just stood there, leaned against one of the poles in the aisles, put my head down, and sighed.

Example,

Yesterday, I went to the mall.
I bought some shorts and a baseball cap.

I spent almost $20.

2. Ask your partner what he/she did last weekend. Respond with related questions.

For example,

What did you last Saturday?
I stayed home and cleaned my room.
Did you do anything fun?
Not really.

3. Tell about a childhood experience.

One day, when I was about 7 years old, there was a knock on our door.
When I opened the door, I saw that nobody was there.
I felt something was wrong, so I called my mother