SIMPLE PAST

Function:

·             To indicate an action or a state that is in the past.     Ahmad went to the beach yesterday.

Usage:

·       The past tense forms of verbs can be classified into regular and irregular forms.

·      The regular past tense forms of verbs has the inflection of a suffix ‘-ed’.

·     The irregular past tense forms of verbs do not take an inflection of the suffix ‘-ed’ but alter their forms in some different ways.

The table illustrates examples of regular past tense forms of verbs.

Main verb	Past Tense
Play	Played
Wash	Washed
Listen	Listened
Use	Used
Explain	Explained

The table illustrates examples of irregular past tense forms of verbs.

Main verb	Past Tense
Put	Put
See	Saw
Read	Read
Buy	Bought
Sing	Sang

However, the past tense form of the copula ‘be’ verb differs with reference to the subject of a sentence.

The table illustrates the examples with the copula 'be' verb.

Subject	Copula Verb
I, He, She, It, The policeman, Mr Albert	was	happy.
You, We, They, The policemen, Ali and Abu	were	happy.

Game:  Who Did What?

Introduction:

This game helps students practise the simple past tense

Materials:

Word cards and sentence strips

Preparation:

Make some word cards and sentence strips with verbs or whole actions

Teaching Procedures:

1.  Students are given some cards with verbs and sentence strips with whole actions on (e.g. “Jump” or “Jump next to the teacher’s desk twice”)

2.  Several students stand up and do their actions at the same time, and those who are sitting down have to say or write who did what, plus in what order if each student had more than one card.

Word Cards & Sentence Strips:

Sing

Laugh

Dance

Smile

Jump next to the teacher’s desk twice

Knock the door five times

Tap the window pane three times

Run towards the door

Sample Worksheet With Answers

Related Link:

Video for Simple Past Tense

Sources:

Abdul Halim Ibrahim. (2012). Sentence building-blocks and patterns: Language units and dimensions. Malaysia: Persatuan Penulis Budiman Malaysia.

Celce-Murcia, M., & Larsen-Freeman, D. (1999). The grammar book (2^nd ed.). US: Heinle & Heinle Publishers.