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1. Past Events and Situations--Simple Past and Present Perfect To form the simple past of most verbs simply add -ed to the base of the verb. For negative sentences and questions use did and the base of the verb. For example: Statement: Ricky Martin sang a beautiful song at the concert in Kansas City. Negative: I did not want to drive through the desert. Question: Did you watch TV yesterday? Short answer: No, I didn't. // Yes, I did. The present perfect is formed with the auxiliary verb HAVE (has or have) and the past participle (-ed or -en) of the verb. For most of the verbs, the past participle is the same as the simple past form. For example: Statement: My mother has objected to my wedding plans. Negative: I have not smoked a cigarette in a week. Question: Has your sister been to museum yet? Short answer: No, she hasn't. // Yes, she has.
The present perfect is often used to refer to recently completely actions. In questions, you usually use the adverb yet. For example: Have you eaten yet? No, I haven't./ Yes, I have. In positive statements with the present perfect you usually use the adverb already. For example: I have already finished my homework, but I haven't had any food yet. We usually use the present perfect tense with the adverb ever to ask whether an event has happened anytime before now. For example: Have you ever visited Costa Rica? To ask or tell about things that happened at a specific time in the past, use the simple past tense. For example: When did you last visit Costa Rica? 2. Irregular Verbs Some English verbs are irregular and therefore you must learn them individually. For a complete list of irregular verbs go to the Support level now. Although many verbs in English form their past tense with -ED, some do not. Among them is the verb TO BE with its two different form: was and were. For example: Statement: She/he/it/I was in the park yesterday. They/we/you were happy about it. Negative: I was not at school last week. We weren't there last Monday. Question: Was she happy about her gift? Were you sick last week? Short answer: No, he wasn't. // Yes, they were. 3. Past Situation and habits--Used to When you want to show a past habit or a situation that was true in the past but doesn't exist anymore use the expression used to. For example: Mike used to bite his nails. Now he chews his pencil. (past habit) Bob used to be overweight. Now he is thin. (past situation) I used to play basketball. (memories) 4. Past probability, Possibility, and Impossibility In order to show that you had the ability or opportunity to do something in the past but you didn't do it, you use the modals (must, might, could) + have + the past participle of any verb. For example: I could have passed the course, but I didn't. Mary could have taken the bus, but she walked instead. John looked very tired this morning. He must have worked late last night. Brian's office's closed. He must have already left. 5. Could and Couldn't for Past Ability and Inability To show that someone was able or unable to do something in the past, use could or could not For example: When I was in High School I couldn't speak English, but now I can. At elementary school I could play the flute, now I can't. |
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