Tense - The Past Simple

Derek: “I went to the cinema last week.”

Clive: “I didn’t know people still went to the cinema.”

Statement of Form

Sbj + past tense verb (for regular verbs, add –ed, -d or –ied, depending on the spelling of the base form; for irregular verbs students must memorize the form)

Negatives and questions formed with the auxiliary verb, ‘did’.

Where the main verb is ‘be’, use ‘was’ or ‘were’.

Students need to know

The Past Simple is used to describe a range of situations in the past, from the single event (going to the cinema) above, to states that pertained for a long time…

Bill: “I worked as a lift attendant until I was 30.”

Ben: “How was that?

Bill: “It was a bit up and down, to be honest.”

… via repeated actions…

Ant: “Those were the days: we always went to Norfolk for our holidays, do you remember?”

Dec: “Sadly, yes.”

… including things that are still true (or, at least the speaker thinks so)

Simon: “We really must go to Brighton again next Bank holiday; it was so peaceful and that lovely sandy beach was a delight.”

Garfunkel: “?”

... and a series of sequential actions:

Gary: “I met her in the pub, got chatting, we finished our drinks, went back to her place, listened to some Bowie to get us in the mood, then, you know, made out. How cool is that?”

Paul: “Who’s Bowie?”

We also often use the Past simple to convey the idea of ‘distance from reality’. This use of the Past Simple to separate the speaker from reality pops up all over the place. In conditionals…

“If I had a million pounds [he hasn’t], I’d buy a mansion.”

… in reported speech…

Angie: “What the hell is this!?”

Dennis: “Well, you told me you wanted a mobile home for Christmas.

Angie: “No, I said, ‘I want a mobile PHONE’.”

…in indirect speech…

“He wanted to know what the capital of Swaziland was.”

“Funny question.”

… to be extra polite or show respect

Waiter: “Were you ready to order, Sir?”

Customer: “Yes. I’ll have the nut roast.”

… and notice how it indicates our speech is indirect:

“I didn’t know people still went to the cinema.” (=People still go to the cinema?)

- he’s using the past simple, but talking about the present.

Students struggle with

The uses above that refer directly to the past do not pose a huge problem conceptually for most students. As a rule of thumb, it can be seen as the “default” way of referring to the past. However, many (even very advanced learners) continue to confuse past simple with present perfect, so subtle can be the difference. (see unit on Present Perfect for more on this).

Uses where the past form refers to a time other than the past, needless to say, cause students immense problems.

Form is a major headache. ‘Regular’ verbs may have irregular spellings (‘cried’, ‘stopped’, ‘loved’) and tricky pronunciation rules:  is that “–ed” /Id/ or just /t/?; many of the most common verbs are irregular: students have no choice but to memorize the past tense form. Add to this the fact that the verb ‘be’ is handled totally differently to other verbs, and that negatives and questions involve the non-intuitive introduction of auxiliary verb ‘did’ as well as changes in word order and, well, you’ve got your work cut out.

Generative situations

My secret past

Realia from your past would be useful: a school photo, school and degree certificates, your first job offer letter, a love letter (!?)  Students will find it all fascinating, and it will enable you to elicit sentences like, “I started school in 1984.” “I played for the school football team.” “I loved Judith Davis but she didn’t love me.” Etc.

Fun practice

Great weekend / Awful weekend

(note: Works best on a Monday!) Start by establishing that we often ask “How was your weekend?” on a Monday morning. The usual response is “Fine, and yours?” and that’s the end of the conversation. This activity aims to take it a bit further. Get students to list things that might have happened in a great weekend, and a separate list of things that would make a horrendous weekend (staying clear of obviously awful things like death of a relative, war etc.) Make sure the lists are written in note form: “win lottery”, “have sex” “lose wallet” “cat die” “meet Brad Pitt” “see bad movie”. They then ask and answer questions about their weekend:

“How was your weekend?”

“It was great! I won the lottery!”

“Wow!”

“How was your weekend?”

“It was awful. My cat died.”

“Oh, I am sorry.” And so on…

Note that, in addition to practising past simple, this activity encourages natural reactions.