PAST SIMPLE of MAIN VERBS — AFFIRMATIVE
| Grammar rules | Spelling rules | Pronunciation |
GRAMMAR RULES
- We use the past simple to refer to past, finished actions (for example, to narrate the events in a story). Most verbs end in -ed in the past:
The man opened the door and looked outside.
He waited a moment, then he stepped out of the house
and he closed the door carefully. He started walking down the street
without looking back.
- In contrast with the present simple, in the past simple we use the same form for all the grammatical persons:
Present simple: I live in London. My brother lives in Liverpool.
Past simple: I lived in Liverpool for a year. My brother lived in Manchester for six months.
- Many irregular verbs have past forms that do not end in -ed.
- BE is the only verb which has two different past forms:
- I / he / she / it + WAS
- you / we / they + WERE
Examples:
I was ill last Monday.
My brother was ill, too.
My parents were not ill.
- We often use the past simple with time expressions that refer to a finished period of time: yesterday, last Saturday, last weekend, last year,
two days ago, a long time ago.
SPELLING RULES
- For most verbs, we add -ed:
play — played, start — started, open — opened.
- If the verb ends in -e, we only add -d:
arrive — arrived, close — closed, complete — completed.
- If the verb ends in consonant + y, we replace the "y" with "i" and add -ed:
study — studied, copy — copied, cry — cried.
- If the verb ends in consonant + vowel + consonant, we normally double the last consonant:
stop — stopped, trap — trapped, plan — planned.
- However, if the last syllable is not accented, we do not usually double it:
open — opened, listen — listened.
- However, if the last consonant is an -l, in American English they do not double it, but in British English they do:
travel — travelled
QUESTION: Look again at the verbs in the first rule: why don't we write "plaied", "startted", "openned"?
PRONUNCIATION
- Verbs ending in -t or -d are pronounced with /-Id/:
started /"stA:tId/
ended /"endId/
- Verbs ending in voiceless consonants (except -t) are pronounced with /-t/:
stopped /"stQpt/
asked /"A:skt/
reached /"ri:tSt/
passed /"pA:st/
crashed /"kr&:st/
laughed /"lA:ft/
teethed /"ti:Tt/
- All other regular verbs are pronounced with /-d/:
opened /"@Up@nd/
smiled /"smaIld/
copied /"kQpId/
JJCC