Simple Past Essay

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Vita Education Services www.vitaeducation.org Simple Past Tense Structure: S + V Past (Regular / Irregular) + C The Simple Past Tense is used in different situations: 1. Use the Simple Past Tense to talk about an action that started and finished at a specific time in the past. Sometimes the speaker may not mention the specific time, but they do have one specific time in mind. USE 1 “Completed Action in the Past” Examples: • • • • • • I saw a movie yesterday. I didn't see a play yesterday. Last year, I traveled to Japan. Last year, I didn't travel to Korea. Did you have dinner last night? He didn't wash his car. 2. Use the Simple Past to list a series of completed actions in the past. These actions happen 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and so on. USE 2 “A Series of Completed Actions” Examples: • I finished work, walked to the beach, and found a nice place to swim. • He arrived from the airport at 8:00, checked into the hotel at 9:00, and met the others at 10:00. • Did you add flour, pour in the milk, and then add the eggs? Datakw/ESLgrammar/Simple Past Tense use Inter/advanced Vita Education Services www.vitaeducation.org 3. The Simple Past can be used with a duration which starts and stops in the past. A duration is a longer action often indicated by expressions such as: for two years, for five minutes, all day, all year, etc. USE 3 Duration in Past Examples: • • • • • • I lived in Brazil for two years. Shauna studied Japanese for five years. They sat at the beach all day. They did not stay at the party the entire time. We talked on the phone for thirty minutes. A: How long did you wait for them? B: We waited for one hour. 4. The Simple Past can also be used to describe a habit which stopped in the past. It can have the same meaning as "used to". To make it clear that we are talking about a habit, we often add expressions such as: always, often,

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