ANNE
My brother, David, worked in the family business too. But he didn’t like it.
He wanted to try something different.
JOHN
So what happened?
ANNE
My parents agreed. They let him come to Australia to study.
JOHN
Where did he go?
ANNE
He came here, to Adelaide. He studied computer science. We thought he was
happy.
JOHN
And then what happened?
ANNE
I don’t know. He wrote every week, and then the letters stopped.
JOHN
Do you know where he lived?
ANNE
He stayed with an Australian family. He was a boarder. Here’s the address.
She passes JOHN a piece of paper.
JOHN
Did you phone them?
ANNE
Yes, of course. He left there a year ago. They don’t know where he went.
JOHN
Does he have a mobile phone?
ANNE
I don’t know. He did, but he doesn’t answer it now.
JOHN
Don’t worry Ms Lee. I’ll find your brother. I’m on the case. He shakes her hand and she leaves. JOHN looks at the photo. Now he looks
worried.
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1. THE PAST TENSE
The simple past tense is used to talk about events in the
past that are finished.
I worked in a restaurant last year. (but I don’t work there now) I did work in a restaurant last
year.
(and I don't work there anymore)
To talk about things that have nothappened in the past we use did not or
didn't. I didn't work in a restaurant last
year.
ANNE My brother, David, worked in the
family business too. But he didn’t like it.
2. REGULAR VERBS Regular verbs form
the past tense by adding ed to the basic form of the
verb.
For example: work is the basic form
Adding 'ed' gives us: worked
The ending does not change with different pronouns. I worked; he
worked, we worked, you worked, they
worked
There are three ways of pronouncing the edending.
We use the edpronunciation after the consonants t and
d. tarrest
/ arrested
You should arrest him. / He was arrested.
d load
/ loaded
I’ll load the shopping in the car. / I loaded
the shopping in the car.
ANNE He wanted to try something
different.
We use thetpronunciation after the soundss,
p, k, f and sh s mess/ messed
He messed her hair.
p sip/
sipped
She sipped her drink.
kpick/
picked
He picked his nose.
flaugh/
laughed
They laughed at my jokes.
sh fish/
fished
He fished in a boat.
ANNE My brother, David, worked in the
family business too.
ANNE I don’t know. He wrote every week, and then the
letters stopped.
We use the d pronunciation after the
consonant soundsb, g, l, z,v,
m, n, j, th and ng b mob/ mobbed
He was mobbed by fans.
g beg/
begged
I begged for mercy.
l fill/
filled
I filled the tank.
z quiz/
quizzed
The police quizzed him for hours.
v love/
loved
I loved the movie.
mhum/
hummed
We hummed the tune.
n thin/
thinned
I thinned out the weeds
j judge/
judged
He judged her harshly
th smooth/
smoothed
She smoothed her dress.
ng clang/
clanged
The bell clanged loudly
JOHN So what happened?
JOHN Do you know where he lived?
edis also
pronounced d when the word ends with a vowel sound. I fry / fried
I fried an egg.
A stay / stayed
I stayed all day.
ANNE My parents agreed.
ANNE He stayed with an Australian
family.
3. SPELLING VERBS ENDING IN Y
Some verbs which end in y change the y
to an i before adding ed.
hurry
hurried
marry
married
study
studied
worry
worried
Verbs which end in ay or oy
don’t change the y to an i.
stay
stayed
delay
delayed
annoy
annoyed
enjoy
enjoyed
4. IRREGULAR VERBS
Many verbs are 'irregular'. They form their past tense in different ways. We
just have to learn these. Look at the verb to be.
Present
is
am
are
Past
was
were
Notice that this verb to be changes depending on
whether the subject is singular or plural.
Present I am happy.
He is happy.
You are happy.
We are happy.
They are happy.
Past I was happy.
He was happy.
You were happy.
We were happy.
They were happy.
Other irregular verbs just have past tense forms that don't end with ed. Here are some examples from today's episode.
The past tense of leave isleft.
I leave tomorrow.
I left yesterday.
ANNE He left there a year ago.
The past tense of go is went.
I go to university.
I went to university.
ANNE They don’t know where he went. The past tense of write iswrote.
I write these examples.
I wrote you an email.
ANNE He wrote every week, and then the
letters stopped.
The past tense of come is came.
I want you to come to the meeting.
I came to the meeting.
ANNE He came here, to Adelaide.
The past tense of think is thought.
I think English is easy.
I thought English was easy.
ANNE We thought he was happy.
The past tense of let is let.
I will let the cat in.
I let the cat in last night.
ANNE They let him come to Australia to
study. 5. QUESTIONS IN THE PAST TENSE
There are several ways of asking questions in the past tense. To ask about
past actions we use the past tense of the verb 'to do'
– did.
Questions starting with didare asking whether an action was performed or not. The
answer is usually 'yes' or 'no'.
We use didfollowed by a pronoun or subject,
and then the verb or action being asked about.
Notice that the verb used after didis not in the past tense. The word
did forms the past tense for the question and the
answer.
Did you feed
the cat? Yes I did feed the cat.
You can also answer this question by just saying yes,
or yes I did. Did you feed the cat? Yes.
Did you feed the cat? Yes I did. You answer no with the negative form of did - didn't
Did you feed the cat? No I didn’t. Didn'tis the contracted form of did not. We
usually use did not to add emphasis. Did you steal the money?
I did not.
You can give answers to did questions about the
past with the past tense of the other verb used in the question. Did he go to the
bank?
Yes he went to the bank.
Did you feed the
cat?
Yes I fed the cat. 6. QUESTIONS USING WHAT and WHERE
Questions starting with what and where
are asking for information. Where did you go? I went to the supermarket.
