Simple Past

Introduction

Basically, simple past or past simple is used when we want to talk about a complete action in the past. In detail, it could be used in these conditions;

1) To show a finished action in the past
He jumped into the river yesterday.
I went to Kuala Lumpur last week.

2) To show a series of completed actions in the past
I washed my face, then I brushed my teeth.
First I got up, then I had breakfast.

3) It is used together with the Past Progressive/Continuous. The Simple Past interrupted an action which was in progress in the past.
I was sleeping when the dog barked.
They were watching movie when the telephone rang.

The usage of simple past is signaled by words such as yesterday, last week, a month ago, in 2002 etc.

Past Tense Verbs

One of the major problems faced by many students in writing past tense sentences is to correctly form a past tense verb.

Firstly, students need to know that in past tense its form is the same with all subjects. Secondly, there are regular and irregular verbs.


Regular Verbs

With most verbs, the simple past is created simply by adding -ED. However, with some verbs, you need to add -D or change the ending a little.

For further reading, go to :

http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/330/grammar/pasted.htm


Irregular Verbs

Irregular verbs are contradicting with the rules applied by regular verbs.

To look at examples of irregular verbs, go to : http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwesl/egw/verbs.htm