SIMPLE PAST TENSE

STATING EVENTS AND ACTIONS IN THE PAST
Objectives
DESCRIPTION: Applying generic structure and language feature of the text to carry out the social function of stating and asking actions/events which is done/happened in the past, based on the context of its use.
Objective: In this lesson, you will learn about how to state events in the past.

LESSON
Key Points
Stating Events and Actions in The Past

This is one of Dika’s photos. Dika played football with his friends last week. He really liked football. Dika’s team wore orange t-shirt. The weather was rainy, but they looked so happy. At the end of the match, Dika’s team made two goals and finally they won the game.
The paragraph above is telling about past event. When you want to express actions or state about events that happened in the past, you use simple past tense. The simple past tense has a specific characteristic like adding adverb of time such as yesterday, last night, last week, two days ago, a month ago, etc. It also consists of past state of being (to express events in the past) and past form of verbs (to express actions in the past).
1.Past state of being
This is a tense that shows a situation or way of being that exists in the past. For the past state of being, use ‘was’ for the singular thing or ‘were’ for the plural (more than one) things.
For examples:
Affirmative (+)
* He was happy.
* There were two teams.
Negative (-)
* He was not happy.
*There were not two teams.
Interrogative (?)
*Was he happy? Yes, he was/No, he wasn’t.
*Were there two teams? Yes, there were/No, there weren’t.
To understand how to state the past event, you also can read the conversation below:
Keiza : How was the football match last week?
Dika : It was really surprising. Our team won the game.
Keiza : Great! Congrats!
Dika : Thank you.
2. Past form of verbs
This is a tense which shows that something has done in the past. For the past event, you can use regular verbs: “V + ed” for the positive sentence. For examples:
* He played football last week.
* We walked to school yesterday.
Notes:
Add‘ –d’ if the verb ends in –e, For example: close-closed, prepare-prepared.
Add‘ –ed’ if the verb ends in a consonant. For example: cook-cooked, want-wanted.
Change ‘–y’ to ‘–I’ and add ‘–ed’ if the verb ends in ‘–y’ after consonant. For example: study-studied, try-tried.
Use ‘did not’ to show that the sentence has negative meaning. But, the regular past verb changed into present verb. For examples:
* He did not play football last week.
* We did not walk to school yesterday.
Put ‘did’ as the first word when you want to make a question. For examples:
* Did he play football last week? Yes, he did/No, he didn’t.
* Did we walk to school yesterday? Yes, we did/No, we didn’t.
However, you should memorize some verbs that can’t be add by ‘-ed’ or ‘-d’. Those verbs are called irregular verbs. .
For examples:
* They won the game.
* The weather was rainy.
* Dika’s team made two goals.
* Dika’s team wore orange t-shirt.
Important points:
• Change the verbs into past forms if you want to tell about actions and events in the past. There are two types of past verbs: regular and irregular.
• Add adverb of time: yesterday, two/ three/ four days ago, last night, last week, last month, last year, last Sunday, etc. if necessary.
• Remember this generic structure: Subject + Verb2 (past verbs) + adverb of time (optional)

 

WRITING ACTIONS AND EVENTS IN THE PAST

Objectives

DESCRIPTION: Applying generic structure and language feature of the text to carry out the social function of stating and asking actions/events that happened in the past, based on the context of its use.
Objective: In the previous lesson, you have learned about how to state events in the past. While in this lesson, you will learn about how to write actions and events in the past based on the context.
LESSON

Key Points

Writing Actions and Events in the Past
Most people want to share their experiences or interesting events to their friends. They can share by telling or writing actions and events in the past such as the best moment, holiday, etc. To express actions and events in the past, you should pay attention to the tense. The tense is one of language features, especially in writing. Thus, using appropriate tense in writing is very important.
The tenses which talk about past time are simple past tense and past continuous tense. To differentiate between writing actions in the past and writing events in the past based on the context, you can see the explanation below.
• Writing Actions in the Past
Action is a process of doing something. You can put simple past tense or past continuous tense in writing actions in the past. See the examples below:
He slept well last night.
I watched TV show last night.
Mom washed clothes yesterday.
The words ‘watched’, ‘slept’, and ‘washed’ are examples of actions that happened in the past. So, when you want to use simple past tense, you should change the verb into past as follows:
sleep - slept
watch- watched
wash - washed
But, when you want to tell the actions happen that were happening at a certain moment in the past, you should use past continuous tense. See the examples below:
The phone was ringing.
She was cleaning the room.
They weren’t listening to their teacher.
The words ‘was’ and ‘were’ are used to help verbs that were happening at the past time.
• Writing Events in the Past
Events are unusual or important things that happened at a certain time. To tell the events in the past, you should use ‘was’ or ‘were’. ‘Was’ and ‘were’ are auxiliary verb which is used to help completing the sentences in the past when there aren’t the actions.
For example:
How was your holiday?
They were sleepy this morning.
We weren’t at the cinema last night.
To understand how to write actions and events in the past based on the context, read the short text and conversation below.
a. Short Text
Last holiday, I went to Bandung for visiting my grandparents. My grandparents’ house was not big, but it had a beautiful garden. There were a lot of plants and flowers. My grandfather taught me about planting. I learned a lot of things. I really enjoyed it. I liked the weather, too. There wasn’t rainy as usual, but the it was clear and cold.
b. Short Conversation
Gina : How was your holiday in Bandung?
Sinta : It was really fun.
Gina : Really? How was the weather?
Sinta : It wasn’t rainy, but it was cold.
Gina : What did you do there?
Sinta : I learned a lot of things about planting.
Gina : Did you enjoy it?
Sinta : Sure.
To sum up the lesson, in writing actions and events in the past you should:
- remember that every English sentence needs a verb.
- change of verbs is important to express the actions in the past.
- use the words ‘was’ or ‘were’ to express events that happened in the past. These words are called verb be. They are used to replace actions verbs.
- pay attention to adverb of time that shows that the actions and events happened in the past; yesterday, a day ago, last year, etc.