Profesor: Belzazar Oyarzún M.

THE SIMPLE PAST

 We use the simple past to express the idea that an action started and finished in the past.

 I saw a movie yesterday.

 Shauna studied Japanese for five years.
 They sat at the beach all day.

We form the simple past like this: We form the past simple of be like this:

I Irregular verbs I was

You You
He He
She played / wrote were She was
It started / saw It
We We
They They
Regular
verbs
Profesor: Belzazar Oyarzún M.
EXAMPLES: EXAMPLES:

 Mary sang beautifully at the party.  The exam was not easy.
 He washed his car.  It wasn’t a good film
 Last year, I travelled to Japan.  We were not playing well
 Mary and Paul went to Peru.

We form the negative form of the simple past

like this:
We use did to ask questions in the past simple
I/you/he/she/it/we/they did not OR didn’t play (auxiliary verb):

EXAMPLES: Did I/you/he/she/it/we/they play ?

 He did not wash his car. EXAMPLES:

 She didn’t play the piano.
 We did not do it.  Did you go to the park yesterday?
 They didn’t play the match.  Did we play well?
 Did they go to the swimming pool?

EXAMPLES:
We use be to ask questions in the past simple
 I was a very good student. (auxiliary verb):
 He was the best soccer player.
 They were studying at the library. Was I / he / she / it a good student?
 We were talking about you.
Were you / we / they right?
We form the negative form of the simple past of
be like this: EXAMPLES:

I was not OR I wasn’t  Were you at the hotel last night?

He/ she / it was not OR wasn’t  Was he sick?
You/ we / they were not OR weren’t  Were they playing?

PRACTICE

I.- PUT THESE SENTENCES INTO THE PAST

TODAY YESTERDAY
0. I’m at home. _____________________________________________
1. Jane and Michael are tired. _____________________________________________
2. She’s in the park. _____________________________________________
3. It’s a sunny day. _____________________________________________
4. You’re late. _____________________________________________
5. They aren’t hungry. _____________________________________________
6. We aren’t at work. _____________________________________________
7. I’m thirsty. _____________________________________________
8. You aren’t at school. _____________________________________________
9. We’re at the cinema. _____________________________________________
10. Paula isn’t happy. _____________________________________________
11. Everyone is excited. _____________________________________________
Profesor: Belzazar Oyarzún M.
12. I’m not afraid. _____________________________________________

II. - MARY SPENT LAST WEEKEND IN MADRID. ASK HER SOME QUESTIONS USING WAS OR WERE.

0. (your hotel/good) _____________________________________________

1. (your room/comfortable) _____________________________________________
2. (the weather/nice) _____________________________________________
3. (the streets/full of people) _____________________________________________
4. (the shops expensive) _____________________________________________
5. (the city/exciting at night) _____________________________________________
6. (the museums/interesting) _____________________________________________
7. (the people/friendly) _____________________________________________
8. (your flight/OK) _____________________________________________

III. - CHOOSE A VERB FROM THE BOX AND COMPLETE EACH SENTENCE. PUT THE VERBS IN THE PAST SIMPLE.

Visit work play drive

Send take arrive win

1. I __________ tennis at the club yesterday evening.

2. She __________ very hard for her exams.
3. Paul ___________ me s postcard from Brazil.
4. She _____________ her new car from London to Southampton.
5. I ____________ my brother in Madrid last month.
6. The train _____________ at the station at ten o’clock yesterday.
7. The French team ______________ the match.
8. We ____________ a lot of photographs on holiday last year.

IV. - LOOK AT THE CHART OF FAMOUS WRITERS OF THE PAST. COMPLETE THE SENTENCES WITH WAS, WASN’T, WERE
AND WEREN’T.

Isaak Babel 1894-1941 Russia Short-story writer, playwright

James Baldwin 1924-1987 Unites States Author, playwright
Honoré de Balzac 1799-1850 France Novelist
Simone de Beauvoir 1908-1966 France Novelist, essayist
Giovanni Boccaccio 1313-1375 Italy Poet, storyteller
Karel Capek 1890-1938 Czechoslovakia Novelist, essayist
Agatha Christie 1890-1976 England Mystery writer
Lorraine Hansberry 1930-1965 United States Playwright
Pablo Neruda 1904-1973 Chile poet

1. Simone de Beauvoir __________ a French poet. She __________ a French novelist.

2. Giovanni Boccaccio _________ born in 1313.
3. James Baldwin and Lorraine Hansberry __________ American poets. They ___________ playwrights.
4. Karel Capek __________ a poet.
5. Pablo Neruda __________ from Chile.
6. Honoré de Balzac ____________ a playwright. He ___________ a novelist.
Profesor: Belzazar Oyarzún M.
7. Agatha Christie ___________ American. She ___________ English.
8. Isaak Babel ___________ Russian. He __________ French.
9. Simone de Beauvoir and Honoré de Balzac __________ both French.
10. Pablo Neruda and Simone de Beauvoir ___________ both born in the early 1900s.

V. - ASK AND ANSWER QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PEOPLE IN EXERCISE IV. USE WAS AND WASN’T.

1. James Baldwin / a playwright?

A: _________________________________________________
B: _________________________________________________
2. Where / Simone de Beauvoir from?
A: _________________________________________________
B: _________________________________________________
3. What nationality / Pablo Neruda?
A: _________________________________________________
B: _________________________________________________
4. Who / Boccaccio?
A: _________________________________________________
B: _________________________________________________
5. Agathat Christie / French?
A: _________________________________________________
B: _________________________________________________

6. What nationality / Lorraine Hansberry ?

A: ________________________________________________
B: ________________________________________________

VI. - IN EACH CASE THE TWO FACTS WERE TRUE MANY YEARS AGO. WRITE A SENTENCE TO DESCRIBE THE PAST
SITUATION.

1. (It is 1984) Sally is at school. She plays in a football team.

When ______________________________________________

2. (It is 1987) Bob's sister is at university. She writes a lot of poetry.

When ______________________________________________

3. (It is 1990) Fred is in the army. He goes to many different countries.

When ______________________________________________

4. (It is 1992) Jane and Michael are at school. They don't do much homework.
When ______________________________________________

5. (It is 1985) Anna is A teenager. She wears very long skirts.

When ______________________________________________

VII. - COMPLETE THE STORY, ADDING WAS AND WERE.

It ________ a beautiful day. The sun _________ hot and the sky _________ blue.
James and Wendy ________ on the beach. They _________ with their three children.
The children _________ in the sea. This sea _________ a bit cold but the children ________ very happy.
There _________ lots of other children in the sea too: some of them _________ in the water with their parents.
Wendy and James __________ on the sand and James _________ asleep with a book on his face. But suddenly
there ________ grey clouds all over the sky and the sun _________ not hot any more. They beautiful weather
_______ finished and there ________ wet picnics and wet people everywhere. A British summer holiday!
Profesor: Belzazar Oyarzún M.