Simple Past Tense - English Grammar Basics | Verbal Ability (VA) & Reading Comprehension (RC) - CAT PDF Download

Introduction

• The simple past is a verb tense that is used to talk about things that happened or existed before now. Imagine someone asks what your brother Wolfgang did while he was in town last weekend. 
  Example: (i) Wolfgang entered a hula hoop contest.
  (ii) He won the silver medal. 
• The simple past tense shows that you are talking about something that has already happened. Unlike the past continuous tense, which is used to talk about past events that happened over a period of time, the simple past tense emphasizes that the action is finished.
  Example: Wolfgang admired the way the light glinted off his silver medal. 
• You can also use the simple past to talk about a past state of being, such as the way someone felt about something. This is often expressed with the simple past tense of the verb to be and an adjective, noun, or prepositional phrase.
  Example: (i) Wolfgang was proud of his hula hoop victory.
  (ii) The contest was the highlight of his week.

➢ Formation of Simple Past Tense

• For regular verbs, add -ed to the root form of the verb (or just -d if the root form already ends in an e):
  Play → Played Type → Typed Listen → Listened Push → Pushed Love → Loved 
• For irregular verbs, things get more complicated. The simple past tense of some irregular verbs looks exactly like the root form: 
  Put → Put Cut → Cut Set → Set Cost → Cost Hit → Hit
• For other irregular verbs, including the verb to be, the simple past forms are more erratic:
  See → Saw Build → Built Go → Went Do → Did Rise → Rose Am/Is/Are → Was/Were
• The good news is that verbs in the simple past tense (except for the verb to be) don’t need to agree in number with their subjects.
  Example: Wolfgang polished his medal. The other winners polished their medals too.

➢ How to Make the Simple Past Negative

• Fortunately, there is a formula for making simple past verbs negative, and it’s the same for both regular and irregular verbs (except for the verb to be). The formula is did not + [root form of verb]. You can also use the contraction didn’t instead of did not. 
  Example: Wolfgang did not brag too much about his hula hoop skills. Wolfgang’s girlfriend didn’t see the contest.
• For the verb to be, you don’t need the auxiliary did. When the subject of the sentence is singular, use was not or wasn’t. When the subject is plural, use were not or weren’t.
  Example: The third-place winner was not as happy as Wolfgang. The fourth-place winner wasn’t happy at all. The onlookers were not ready to leave after the contest ended. The contestants weren’t ready to leave either.

➢ How to Ask a Question

• The formula for asking a question in the simple past tense is did + [subject] + [root form of verb].
  Example: Did Wolfgang win the gold medal or the silver medal? Where did Wolfgang go to celebrate? Did the judges decide fairly, in your opinion? 
• We use the past simple for situations that existed for a period of time in the past but not now.
  Examples: (i) When I was at high school, I played soccer. (used to play)
  (ii) The teacher at high school was very strict. He severely punished any misbehaving students.
• “When, while, after, before, as…” we should pay attention to tense agreement in sentences with time clauses.
  Example: (i) He always ---- at me, before he ---- to me.
  (a) shouts / listens ✓
  (b) shouted / listened ✓
  (c) had shouted / listens
  (d) shouts / listened
  (ii) It ---- almost midnight, we ---- go to bed.
  (a) is / had to
  (b) is / have to ✓
  (c) was / had to ✓
  (d) was / will have to
   

➢ Some Other Examples

• We can also use “for” with simple past tense.
  Examples: (i) I stayed in Canada for 6 months.
  (ii) I had stayed in Canada for 6 months before I came back.
• In some cases simple past doesn't refer to past actions.
  (i) It is high (about) time, somebody did something (It has a present meaning)
  (ii) It’s time you found a decent job.
  (iii) It’s time to find a decent job.
  (iv) It’s time you gave up smoking. (to give up)
• Example: It’s time you ---- and ---- realistic.
  (a) grow up / became
  (b) grew up / became ✓
  (c) have grown up / become
  (d) grew up / will become
  It was time you had started (start) studying.
• If Clause: If someone did something / someone could do something (present meaning)(would).
  (i) If I went shopping, I would buy some bread.
  (ii) Even if I knew the answer, I wouldn't tell you.
• Wish Clause 
  (i) I wish you worked with us. (but you don’t)
  (ii) I wish we were in Miami lying on the beach.
• As if / As though (pretend to be)
  (i) She speaks as if she was an expert. (she is not)
  (ii) I feel as though the world turned round me. (it doesn’t)
  (iii) She speaks as if she is an expert. (I believe she is)
• Would Rather somebody did something = Wish Clause
  (i) I would rather you smoked less.
  (ii) I wish you smoked less.
• Time expressions used with simple past:
  (i) four hours / two days / three weeks ago 
  (ii) I saw Jack yesterday then he disappeared.
  (iii) Last night / year / week : in + past time (In June, in 1986)