There are two basic structures for the Past Simple tense:1. Positive sentencessubject + main verb Past Simple2. Negative and question sentencessubject + auxiliary do + main verb conjugated in Past Simple did baseLook at these examples with the main verbs go (irregular) and work (regular):...
In the past simple tense, negative statements are formed by adding “did not” (or the contraction“didn’t”) between the subject and the infinitive form of the verb. Examples: Negative past simple sentencesJulio did not respond to my message. The audience members didn’t enjoy the performan...
Here are a couple of examples of sentences using the simple past tense: Phoebe entered a Hula Hoop contest. Phoebe entered a Hula Hoop contest last Saturday. When to use the simple past tense Use the simple past tense whenever you are talking or writing about an event that took place or ...
Remember, 2nd form of verb is used only in positive sentences. In negative and question sentences, 1st form of verb is used as the main verb, and ‘did’is used as auxiliary verb. POSSITIVE SENTENCES: Subject + main verb + object. Subject + 2nd form of verb + object. Examples: I ate...
follow the rules when it comes to making the simple past tense negative. In order to make the simple past tense negative, you use the phrasedid notbefore the root form of the verb. The contractiondidn’tcan also be used. Here are examples of the simple past tense used in the negative:...
usethecorrectpasttenseforminpositivesentences.Lastweek,I___youaletter.Thestudents___aspeechinEnglish.They___agreatjob!TheverbBE RemembertheformsofverbBEforthesimplepasttense:I,He,She,ItThey,We,You WASWERE SimplePast(Negative)Forallverbs(EXCEPTbe),use:
Negative Sentences in the Past Simple TenseSpelling Tip When shortening the 3rd person (he, she, it) negative, just remove the o in not and add an apostrophe (') did not > didn't To create a negative sentence in the past simple, use didn’t (did not) + the base form of the ve...
Clauses are groups of words which have meaning but are often not complete sentences. Some clauses begin with the word when such as "when I dropped my pen" or "when class began." These clauses are called when-clauses, and they are very important. The examples below contain when-clauses...
How to form negative statements in the past simple tense To makenegative sentencesin the past tense, add theauxiliary verb“did not”(can be shortened to“didn’t”)before thepresentverb tense. “Did not” is the past tense of “do not.” ...
Past simple negatives To make a negative past simple sentence we use the auxiliary verb (did) and “not”: Wedid not livein Sydney. Hedid not catchthe ball with his left hand. The childrendid not playall weekend. We can use contractions in informal spoken English: ...