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Past simple



SECTION 0 - Present simple refresher

Find and correct the mistakes bellow.

1. He go to bed very early.
2. Does they live in Canada?
3. I am usually cook dinner for my family.
4. Are they have a meeting every week?
5. She don’t like tennis.
6. Does John has enough money?
7. He know the answer.
8. Robert playes baseball on the weekend.
9. They has lots of free time.


SECTION 1 - Past simple explanation
SIMPLE PAST

To form the simple past, add –ed to the verb for regular verbs in affirmative sentences.

We use the simple past to:

- Talk about an action that was completed once in the past: He talked to the CEO yesterday.
- Talk about an action that was completed multiple times in the past: She walked to school every day for a month. (She doesn’t walk to school anymore.)
- Talk about something that was true for some time in the past but isn’t true now: We worked together in the same office. (They don’t work in the same office anymore.)

Use did to form questions and did + not (didn’t) to form negatives. When did is used in a sentence it shows the past tense so the verb stays in its base form.

He worked.
Where did he work?
Did he work?
He didn’t work.

There are irregular verbs. Unlike regular verbs, irregular verbs change form unpredictably and need to be memorized.

They ate.
What did they eat?
They ate steak.
Did they drink wine?
No, they drank water.

When using the past tense form of the be-verb there are some exceptions. The verb changes form depending on the subject (was/were). Did isn’t necessary with the be-verb to make questions or the negative.

I was tired. / Amy was tired. / We were tired. / You were tired.
Where was the suitcase? / Where were the suitcases?
Was the shirt blue? / Were the shirts blue?

He wasn’t there. / You weren’t there.

                                       


SECTION 2 - Practice
Self-study
Each student is going to practice with the following exercises. Click on the links below to access the content.

Exercise 1                   Exercise 4                    Exercise 7
Exercise 2                   Exercise 5                    Exercise 8
Exercise 3                   Exercise 6                    Exercise 9

Find the mistakes exercise: please, CLICK HERE to go to the exercise.



SECTION 3 - Pronunciation practice
Let's see the following video about past tense regular verbs -ed ending pronunciation.




Practice 1: Pronunciation of final -ed. Please, CLICK HERE to go to the exercise.

Practice 2: Each student is going to read a paragraph and will receive feedback about her/his pronunciation, stress placement, fluency and intonation. 

1. I woke up yesterday morning and I got out of bed. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing. I decided that I would go for a walk. I started by walking down my road. I pushed open my gate and closed it behind me. I walked for miles and miles along a country road.  I even visited my aunt. 

2. Along the way I passed a young man selling fruit. ‘How much are the apples?’ I asked. ‘£1 for a bag,’ he said. I paid the man and I continued to walk. I ate all of the apples except for one, which I dropped on the ground, they were delicious. After a while I met another man, this man had a camel. The camel was a special camel, it had no humps. ‘What is his name?’ I asked the man. ‘His name is Humphree,’ said the man.

3. I walked for a very long time, soon the sun began to go down. It was beautiful, I love sunsets. I got home at about 12:30. I was very tired, normally I go to bed at 10:00. I put on my pyjamas, rubbed my hands together and went straight to bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow I fell asleep. That was the best walk of my life, I loved it. The next day I called my mother and told her all about it.

4. In the morning they studied a little, they asked the teacher to speak slowly when necessary and answered her questions. In the afternoon they visited two different places or played a different sport at the college. It was so much fun. They often walked down to the beach with their new friends and played or chatted. They were tired so they sometimes watched videos or played board games.


SECTION 4 - Speaking practice

Students will be divided into small groups and practice speaking by asking some of these questions.

Simple past questions
1. What did you do yesterday?
2. Where did you go on your last vacation?
3. What was the last restaurant you went to? How was it?
4. What did you do last weekend?
5. What did you eat for lunch yesterday?
6. What was the last movie you saw? How was it?
7. Who did you hang out with last? What did you do together?
8. Talk about the last time you were surprised by something.
9. What was the last game you played?
10. When was the last time you rode a bicycle?
11. Were you a well behaved child? Explain.
12. What was a funny movie you watched recently?
13. Talk about a time you were lost.
14. Where did you grow up? What was it like?
15. What was the last book you read?
16. What did you do this morning?
17. Tell me about the last time you were really excited.





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