Unit 7

TIMES TO REMEMBER

Focus on

Use of English

Grammar

the Past Simple

Tense Regular and Irregular Verbs

Used to/Would

the Past Continuous Tense

Past Continuous vs. Past Simple

Emphatic auxiliary — do/did

Further Practice: Articles

Reading: Education

Speaking: Ambitions

Social English

At the Railway Station

USE OF ENGLISH

Grammar

The Past Simple Tense

The Past Simple Tense is used:

to talk about a complete action or an event in the past.

The action can be a short one

I missed the bus. I asked a question.

or a long one

I lived there for years. I walked for hours.

When we talk about actions and situations in the past we use:

a) adverbs of frequency to talk about habits

Always	At school he always complained about bad food.
Usually	When I was a child, I usually went to the cinema with my parents.
Seldom	Jack's parents seldom went on holiday when he was a little boy.
Never	My brother never missed a classical guitar performance.

etc.

b) adverbs of sequence to order events

Yesterday morning/afternoon/evening; the day before yesterday;

K ate worked yesterday afternoon.

Last	night/week/month/year;
	spring/summer/autumn/winter;
	Monday/Tuesday, etc.

J ane moved into a new flat last week.

five minutes	ago
three hours
five days
a week
two months
a year

He passed all his exams two months ago.

Long ago,	Long ago, people learned to make musical instruments.
(Many) years later	Years later people learned to make more elaborate ones.
Many years later	Many years ago my mother taught me to play the piano.
After that	After that I started taking piano classes with a professional pianist.
(Soon) afterwards	Soon afterwards I played the piano in many piano performances.
In those days	In those days piano performances were quite popular.
Then	Then I gave up playing music.
At that time	At that time I was rather keen on sports.

P ositive form - Regular verbs

I	worked a lot last night.
You
He/She/It
We
You
They

The -ed ending has three pronunciations:

[id]	[t]	[d]
after the sounds /t/ and /d/ waited started	after the unvoiced sounds (except /t/) hoped looked touched washed kissed laughed	after voiced sounds(except /d/) played opened raised lived filled showed

Exercise 1. Put these words into three groups according to the pronunciation of the -ed endings.

passed washed watched decided annoyed remembered failed stopped studied asked loved painted invented used listened wanted

Example: [id] [t] [d]

painted passed failed

Exercise 2. Complete the sentences using the words in the list. Use the Simple Present or the Simple Past.

stay finish listen watch happen visit ask invite

Example: Mike often asks questions. He asked a lot of questions in class yesterday.

1. Lily and Jack __ their grandparents every weekend. They __ them last weekend too.

2. I usually __ to the news on TV before I go to sleep at night, but last night I __ to the news on the radio.

3. Ann seldom __ her homework before midnight;

But yesterday she __ her homework at 10 p. m.

4. I usually __ a lot of people to my birthday party. But last year I __ only my close friends.

5. Take care! This crossroads is extremely dangerous. Accidents are often here. A serious accident __ at this crossroads only a few days ago.

6. In the evening my parents __ at home and __ TV. As usual they __ at home and __ TV last night.

Positive form - Irregular verbs

Irregular verbs are irregular in the Past Simple Tense in the positive only (not in the negative or question form)

1 .

I	came to the station in time.
You
He/She/It
We
You
They

2 .

I	had a lecture yesterday.
You
He/She/It
We
You
They

NOTE: I (You/He, etc.) had to work late last night.

3.

I	was	born in Kiyv in 1978.
You	were	rather good at English.
He She It	was was was	7 years old when he went to school. in Paris some years ago. the most interesting event in my life.
We	were	at the opera yesterday.
You	were	late for classes on Monday.
They	were	in the country at the weekend.

Exercise 3. Underline the word that doesn't belong to each list. Give the Present Tense form of the verbs.

Example: walked typed ran climbed

a) said	visited	struck	grew
b) thought	carried	lent	brought
c) cooked	shook	rode	forgave
d) liked	closed	meant	showed
e) phoned	sank	fought	rang
f) worked	listened	watched	saw

Exercise 4. Complete the sentences putting the verbs in the Past Simple Tense. Use each verb only once.

sell spend buy fly drive run cost drink understand

Example: Mr. and Mrs. Brown drove from London to Manchester last weekend.

1. We needed money badly so we _ our car.

2. Ann _ a lot of money yesterday. She _ a dress which_$70.

3. Dan _ the marathon in two hours.

4. They _ champagne to celebrate their wedding anniversary.

5. As teenagers, we _ each other very well.

6. They _ to Spain the day before yesterday.

Exercise 5. In the following paragraph, there are 19 irregular verbs. Complete the text about Henry. Use the Past Simple.

Example: George (buy) some cigarettes. - Henry bought some cigarettes.

Last weekend, George (1) _ (go) fishing in a stream near our house. He (2) _ (choose) a quiet spot under a tree and (3) __ (sit) there for hours but not one fish (4) __ (swim) and he (5) ___ (catch) nothing. So he (6) __ (lay) down his rod and (7) _ (take) out a book to read. To keep mosquitoes away, he (8) _ (light) a cigarette, but alas, he (9) __ (find) he was sitting on an ant-heap. The ants (10) _ (bite) his legs. He (11) _ (throw) the cigarette away in disgust. Then he stepped on his rod and (12) _ (break) it. The book (13) __ (fall) into the stream. Finally, Henry (14) _(lose) his temper: his legs (15) _ (hurt) him, his rod (16) __ (lie) in pieces and he (17) __ (have) no fish. He (18) _ (set) off for home and (19) __(swear) never to go fishing again.

Exercise 6. Complete the sentences. Use I was, We were, etc.

Example: I had a wonderful holiday last summer. I was happy.

1. Yesterday we stayed at home the whole day. __ cold and wet.

2. Anita and Grace ate a lot for dinner. __ hungry.

3. Tom and I visited an exhibition of modern painting yesterday. __ impressed.

4. You failed your exam yesterday. __ too nervous.

5. Ann's friend phoned her from New York. __ really excited.