Past tense deals with whatever is said before “Now“, whether it is simple, continuous and perfect past tense. Simply, it means that to describe past activities, actions, states, and conditions we use past tense. So, let’s see understanding of simple past tense.
Understanding simple past tense
Like present tense, past tense has also four sub-types such as “Simple, continuous, perfect past, and perfect continuous past tense.
Examples of simple, continuous, and perfect past tense
1.Last year, we suffered from coronavirus pandemic. (simple past with time reference)
2.Initially, panic was spreading like wildfire. (continuous past with definite time references)
3.Millions of people across world had been experiencing difficulties until the vaccine developed. (past perfect continuous tense with conjunction of time)
4.Unfortunately, many people had lost their jobs when the respective governments declared lockdowns (past perfect tense with conjunction of time)
Table of simple, continuous and perfect past tense
No. Tense type…….Conjugated verbs……..Time reference
1 Simple past Past ……….form of regular and irregular verb/ no helping verbs / did for negative and interrogative………Both definite and indefinite time references
2 Continuous past + ing/ helping verbs of “to be” Define time references or with time conjunctions
3 Perfect past ( past of the past) Past participle of regular and irregular / helping verb “to have” Conjunction for time used to indicate time reference
4 Perfect continuous past Had + been + present participle ( in) When, until, before, etc are used to express time reference.
Table 1. Types of past tense
Explanation of major characteristics of past tense
Strictly speaking, despite “Verb tense” past time reference is necessary to bring more clarity of utterances.
Because, “Verb tense” shows the tense of action or activity not exact time.
John applied for job. (Applied-past form of regular verb)
Grammatically, above simple past sentence is correct. It has past form of verb “applied”. It shows that this is a past tense.
Reference of time in past tense
But, for proper sense of meaning, it fails to make clear impact.
So, we need to answer the “when” question to make better sense.
Last week, John applied for job.
Or, John applied for job as soon as he completed his course.
In this way, time reference is much more than verb tense.
My dad used to walk 5 kilometre to reach at his school when he was fifteen years old. (when he was fifteen years old — time reference)
Two to three decades ago, there were hardly any communication facilities available at the village level. (adverbial of time and main clause in simple past)
Sometimes two tenses are used to express actions in past.
Logically, both cannot make proper sense of meaning independently.
Hence, sometimes, two clauses of past tense become necessary to make better sense.
But, in other case, adverbial of time acts as substitute for time reference.
And, it is often observed that two sub-types of past tense are used in a single sentence to make proper time sense.
In terms of verb tense, the conjugated past forms of verb is used as per the state of action or activity.
Difference between Regular and irregular verb for past tense
In the following table, I’m showing conjugated forms of irregular verbs
No. Base form………..Past form……….Past participle
1 Blow………………………Blew…………………..Blown
2 Sing…………………………Sang…………………….Sung
3 Grow ……………………..Grew…………………..Grown
4 Give …………………… Gave…………………. Given
5 Ride .……………………Ride ……………..… Ridden
6 Sit…………………………….Sat………………………Sat
7 Drive………………………..Drove………………..Driven
8 Think……………………..Thought………………Thought
Table 2. Irregular verbs and conjugated forms
Now, let’s see some examples of regular verbs and conjugated forms.
No. Base form………..Past form……….Past participle
1 Bake……………………baked…………………..baked
2 Climb………………….. climbed……………climbed
3 Walk …………………..walked……………..walked
4 Arrive …………….…. arrived……….……. arrived
5 Chop……….………. chopped ……………. chopped
6 Panic………………..panicked………………….panicked
7 Copy…………………..copied……………………..copied
8 Gather………………..gathered………………….gathered
9 Dance………………….danced……………………..danced
Table 3. Conjugated forms of regular verbs in past tense
Helping verbs have no place in the formation of simple past except “did”. But, in continuous and perfect, past form of “to be and have” play important role.
“To have and to do” work as main verb in simple past tense.
I had a serious elbow injury when I was selected for national team.
It was a challenge for me. But, I did it. Actually, I often did it earlier.
Moreover, past forms of modal verbs have same role and place to express past modalities though in limited degrees.
As far as my knowledge is concerned, you could swim in the floody waters when you were eighteen years.
Actually, “action or dynamic verbs” are more used to describe past activities, habits, actions. Whereas, “Stative verbs” indicate state, qualities, and conditions.
Daily, we went for watering plants in our park whenever there were holidays.
I could remember that she was upset when she declared disqualified.
Usually, in each sub-types of past tense, time reference, whether it is point of time, period of time or adverbials are used to indicate past activities. Let’s learn through explanation of past tense.
Steps in formation of simple past tense
Simple past tense is used to describe the action occurred completely in the past. In the simple past, expression of time is worthy to mention. Hence, it is also called a “Basic form of past tense” for complete past actions.
Role of adverbial of time in the formation of simple past tense
To differentiate simple past from the present perfect tense, time’s expressions are highly essential.
There are two types of time expressions — definite and indefinite time. Both are equally used to form simple past.
He spent much time on a single topic.
We went for picnic yesterday.
It rained heavily at five o’clock.
Last night, he completed his assignment.
They invited you day before yesterday.
A long time ago, we met in the book fair.
They missed the train when I reached the station.
I visited Tirupati temple when I was ten years old.
Use of simple past tense – to describe habitual action
We know that there are countless actions that we express daily as a part of habit. For this, simple past tense is the best means to express.
It was my daily routine to go for swimming at six o’clock.
People used to go for a walk every morning.
She used to practice for singing every day.
Children always went to play in the garden after school.
Use of simple past tense For period of time
If the effect of action is beyond the point of time, in such situation, simple past tense is usually used to indicate action occurred in the period of time.
Really surprisingly, he worked continuously for a decade without rest.
He played for his country for five years.
He represented India in the Asian games for ten years.
As a teacher, he taught consistently for two decades.
They helped me for many years.
Rules of Formation of simple past tense
In order to make simple past tense, in the assertive sentence, second form of verb (regular or irregular verbs) is taken.
But, in the negative, as well as interrogative sentences, ‘Did not’ and ‘Did’ is used.
Assertive sentences: – subject + verb’s second form + object or any complements.
He + played + for his country when he was in twenties.
His reforms + created + many opportunities in the last decade.
They + invested + a lot of money in last month.
She + gave + her first interview at the age of fifteen.
Negative sentences:- subject + did + not + base form of verb + object or any complements.
He + did + not + play + for his country when he was in twenties.
She + did + not + give + her first interview at the age of fifteen.
Interrogative sentences:– inversion of subject means did replaces subject + subject + base form of verb + object or any complements + ?
He practiced well to play football on last Sunday. (Assertive)
He did not practice well to play football on last Sunday. (Negative)
Did he practice well to play football on last Sunday? (Interrogative)
Did he not practice well to play football on last Sunday? (Interrogative)
Formation of simple past tense with “Be” (was, were)
The formation of simple past tense with the form of “Be” like, was, were are very important to describe the state condition in the past time.
He was so poor when he was child.
They were absent in the last meeting.
She was totally absent due to unexpected results in her latest exam.
He wasn’t comfortable in his first interview in last week.
This is enough to know about the formation of simple past tense. I have explained meaning, rules of formation, and examples of simple past tense.