THE PAST SIMPLE TENSE: V-ed or Past Tense form for Irregular verbs
We use Past Simple for:
| • a fact in the past or an individual action that ended in the past • a succession of past actions • past states |
Study the examples:
1. Climate related disasters affected 2.4 billion people in the last decade.
2. The government stopped destroying forests, created green spaces in cities, and constructed a new waste recycling plant.
3. The problem of pollution was the highlight of the week.
PRACTICE
29. Open the brackets using Past Simple. Make negative sentences.
1. His colleagues (open) the discussion the day before yesterday. 2. The employees (translate) a lot of foreign papers last week. 3. Scientists (achieve) considerable results two years ago. 4. The economy growth was evident. However, government (continue) to take the same measures. 5. In the evening they (admire) the photos of rare birds. 6. Last century people (realize) that the erosion of the fertile soil layer was an urgent problem.
30. Regular and irregular verbs. Complete the table with the proper form of irregular verbs.
| Infinitive | Past Simple | Participle II |
| 1. tell | ||
| 2. catch | ||
| 3. | become | |
| 4. | cut | |
| 5. | eaten | |
| 6. hit | ||
| 7. | thrown | |
| 8. | forgotten |
31. Test yourself. Can you give the Past form of the verbs below using their first or third forms.
Drawn, broke, carry out, spoken, taken, built, fly, fight, let, lit, lose, mean, rung, slept, shown, shone, sung, think, upset, wake up
32. Put the words in the correct order to make sentences. Ask different types of questions to these sentences.
1. The disaster /a lot of damage /brought about / last century. 2. these reports / three years ago /The researcher /wrote. 3. After the presentation/ a lot of / asked/ they / questions. 4. environment protection /Students read a lot/ about / last week. 5. last year /took place / A number of/ environmental conferences/ in Moscow. 6. about the plan /He spoke to us / the day before yesterday
*33. There are ten mistakes in the use of tense forms in the passage below. Can you correct them?
Ecologists, Aristotle were one of them, has interest in many species of animals and plants as early as the 4th century BC. They try to describe interrelationships between animals and their environment. As a science, ecology developing considerably in the 18th and 19th centuries, when works about ecological plant geography leads to the foundation of ecology as a discipline.
Charles Darwin contributing to the discipline more than anyone else in its young history. Ecological thought expand even more in the early 20th century. It influence the social sciences and humanities then. Human ecology begun in the early 20th century and it recognize humans as an ecological factor.
34. Watch these videos about the difference between the Past Simple Tense and the Present Perfect Tense.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDzO_Scb89U (in Russian)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwmKjgwlMk8 (in English)
35. Choose the correct option.
1. Sorry, I can’t do my presentation today, I have left / left my flashcard with the slides at home. 2. I haven’t received/didn’t receive any emails from them today yet. 3. I can’t concentrate properly because I have slept/ slept badly. 4. Have you ever learned/did you ever learn to play the piano? 5. When have you seen her/did you see her last? 6. The coronavirus lockdown (изоляция) has improved/ improved the air quality in many capital cities. 7. During his professional career Maradona has played/played 490 games and has scored/ scored 259 goals. 8. Since a computer has been/was invented it has become/became an essential tool for most people.