UNIVERSIDAD TECNOLOGICA DE HONDURAS

English II

Module #5 Simple Past Regular Verbs-Time expressions

I. Datos Generales
Course: English II Code: INE 205
Hours: 3 Unit duration: 10 days

I. Specific Objectives:
Write sentences using simple past tense of regular verbs.
Use prepositions of time to express time.

II. Goals to achieve:

Talk about vacations or trip in the past.

III. Activities and Assignments

Complete exercises in self-study, skills, and assignments section in the

Richmond Learning platform corresponding to unit 7 of Personal Best Level A1B
Textbook and workbook.

IV. Content

Introduction

In this module you will learn prepositions of time, the use of simple past of
regular verbs. Specific prepositions are used with specific time words. Simple
Past refers to an action that happened and ended in the past.

Vocabulary

Time Expressions: today, tomorrow, yesterday, morning, afternoon, evening

on the weekend, in 1999, next month, next week, weekdays

Grammar
UNIVERSIDAD TECNOLOGICA DE HONDURAS
English II

Prepositions of Time

AT
We use AT with specific times (hour / minutes):

• I get up at 7 o'clock.
• My English class starts at 10am.
• She finishes work at 6.15
• I left the party at midnight.

Midnight (and midday) is a specific hour which is why we use AT.

12am = midnight
12pm = midday / noon
We use AT for a holiday period of two or more days:

• Do you normally get together with your relatives at Christmas?

• Did you eat a lot of chocolate at Easter?

ON
We use ON for specific days and dates:

• I will return it to you on Wednesday.

• They got married on Friday the 13th.
• We get paid on the 20th of every month.
• I drank too much milk on New Year's eve.

Remember that for dates, we use ordinal numbers.

E.g. the First of September (not the one of September)

IN
We use IN for specific months, years, seasons, centuries and lengths of time.

• My birthday is in January. (I don't mention the date, just the month)

• My grandmother was born in 1927.
• The river near my house is dry in Summer.
• The company was founded in the 19th century.
• We need to have this report ready in 15 minutes.
UNIVERSIDAD TECNOLOGICA DE HONDURAS
English II

Simple Past Tense

In general, the Past Tense is used to talk about something that started and
finished at a definite time in the past.
You always use the simple past when you say when something happened, so it
is associated with certain past time expressions

▪ frequency: often, sometimes, always

I sometimes walked home at lunchtime.
I often brought my lunch to school.
▪ a definite point in time: last week, when I was a child, yesterday, six
weeks ago
We saw a good film last week.
Yesterday, I arrived in Geneva.
She finished her work atseven o'clock
I went to the theatre last night
▪ an indefinite point in time: the other day, ages ago, a long time ago
People lived in caves a long time ago.
She played the piano when she was a child.

How to form the Past Tense in English

The main rule is that for every verb in English, there is only one form of it in
the past tense.

For example: The past tense of the verb want is wanted.

Wanted is used as the past tense for all subjects/pronouns.

• I wanted
• You wanted
• He wanted
• She wanted
• It wanted
• We wanted
• They wanted

So you just have to learn one word to be able to use it in the past tense. In this
case we just needed to learn the one word wanted which can be used for all
subjects (or people).

Past Tense Regular Verbs

To change a regular verb into its past tense form, we normally add –ED to the
end of the verb.
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English II

• play – played
• cook – cooked
• rain – rained
• wait – waited

There are some exceptions with a slight change in spelling.

Examples of sentences using regular verbs in the past tense

• Last night I played my guitar loudly and the neighbors complained.

• She kissed me on the cheek.
• It rained yesterday.
• Angela watched TV all night.
• John wanted to go to the museum.

Negative sentences in the Past Tense

We use didn't (did not) to make a negative sentence in the past tense.
This is for regular AND irregular verbs in English.
(Exception is To Be and Modal Verbs such as Can)
Compare the following:
Present: They don't live in Canada.
Past: They didn't live in Canada.
The main verb (live in the example above) is in its base form (of the infinitive).
The auxiliary DIDN'T shows that the sentence is negative AND in the past
tense.
NOTICE: The only difference between a negative sentence in the present tense
and a negative sentence in the past tense is the change in the auxiliary verb.
Both don't and doesn't in the present tense become didn't in the past tense.
Compare the negative sentences in the examples below:
Present: You don't need a mechanic.
Past: You didn't need a mechanic.
Present: You don't walk to work.
Past: You didn't walk to work.
Present: He doesn't speak Japanese.
Past: He didn't speak Japanese.

Examples of negative sentences in the Past Tense

• I didn't want to go to the dentist.

• She didn't have time.
• You didn't close the door.
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English II

• He didn't come to my party.

• They didn't study so they didn't pass the test.
• We didn't sleep well last night.

Questions in the Past Tense

We use did to make a question in the past tense.
This is for regular AND irregular verbs in English.
(Exception is To Be and Modal Verbs such as Can)
Compare the following:
Present: Do they live in France?
Past: Did they live in France?
The main verb (live in the example above) is in its base form (of the infinitive).
The auxiliary DID shows that the question is in the past tense.
NOTICE: The only difference between a question in the present tense and a
question in the past tense is the change in the auxiliary verb.
Both Do and Does in present tense questions become Didn't in past tense
questions.
Compare the questions in the examples below:
Present: Do you need a doctor?
Past: Did you need a doctor?
Present: Do you ride your bike to work?
Past: Did you ride your bike to work?
Present: Does he live in Italy?
Past: Did he live in Italy?
We can also use a question word (Who, What, Why etc.) before DID to ask for
more information.

• Did you study? – Yes, I did.

• When did you study? – I studied last night.
• Where did you study? – I studied at the library.

Examples of Questions in the Past Tense

• Did you go to work yesterday?

• Did they arrive on time?
• Did she like the surprise?
UNIVERSIDAD TECNOLOGICA DE HONDURAS
English II

• Where did she go?

• What did you do yesterday?
• What did you say? - I didn't say anything.
• Why did we have to come?

Spelling -ED Ending Rules

English Grammar

The following is a guide to the correct spelling of words ending -ED.

The general rule when changing a word (or verb) into its -ED form is just to
add -ED to the end of it.

Infinitive ED form

to play played

to wait waited

to work worked

to rain rained

• He played with his dog in the backyard.

• I waited for them to invite me.
• She worked until late last night.
• It rained all day.

Spelling Exceptions
The following exceptions exist when spelling words ending in ED:
1). If a word ends in an E we just add the D to the end.

Infinitive ED form

to live lived

to love loved
UNIVERSIDAD TECNOLOGICA DE HONDURAS
English II

to smile smiled

to dance danced

• I lived in Japan for two years and then moved to Thailand.

• I loved the surprise you had for me.
• He smiled when he saw his wife come through the door.
• They danced until their feet hurt.

2). If the word ends in a Consonant + Vowel + Consonant, we double the final
consonant and add ED.

Infinitive ED form

to stop stopped

to admit admitted

to plan planned

to refer referred

to commit committed

• The policeman stopped the thief from escaping.

• He admitted that he was wrong.
• We planned a surprise birthday party for our friend.
• I referred the students to the website where they could practice some
more.
• They committed a serious crime and will end up in jail.

3). If a two-syllable verb ends in a Consonant + Vowel + Consonant, we DO

NOT double the final consonant when the stress is on the FIRST syllable.

Infinitive ED form

to happen happened

to enter entered
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English II

to offer offered

to suffer suffered

• What happened?
• I entered through the back door.
• She was offered a new position with a higher salary.
• Many people are suffered from a lack of food and water.

4). BUT, we DO NOT double the final consonant when the word ends in W, X
or Y or when the final syllable is not stressed.

Infinitive ED form

to fix fixed

to enjoy enjoyed

to snow snowed

• He fixed his bike.

• We enjoyed our time in the North of Chile.
• It snowed yesterday.

5). If the verb ends in consonant + vowel + L, we normally double the final L
and add ED.
Note: In the United States (US) they DO NOT double the L when the accent is
on the first syllable.

ED form ED form
Infinitive
(UK) (US)

to travel travelled traveled

to marvel marveled marveled

• I traveled around South America in 2012.

• Her beauty marveled us.
UNIVERSIDAD TECNOLOGICA DE HONDURAS
English II

V. Bibliography

Textbook: Personal Best A1B, Editorial Richmond, 1st Edition.

Workbook: Personal Best A1B, Editorial Richmond, 1st Edition.
English and Spanish dictionary www.dictionary.com
English Lab – Richmond https://richmondlp.com/
English Central Website- www.englishcentral.com