Past Tense Regular Verbs
Explanation
Use the simple past tense to describe completed past actions or events:
Examples
John walked to the store
Samira worked at Strine Printing in 2008, but she doesn’t work there now.
Look at the examples above – how do you form the past tense?
Exercises – make these into past tense
1. Jerry (clean) his room yesterday.
2. Jerry and Linda (carry) their books to school.
3. Ms. Jones (learn) geography 30 years ago.
4. The cat (play) on the sofa last night.
5. Milk (spill) when the glass fell.
Make 5 more sentences in the past tense, using new verbs from the regular verb list. Don’t repeat verbs.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Tell whether the past tense is correct (in form and use) in the following sentences.
| 1. Yesterday I travel to Washington D.C.
2. Mr. Johnson cleaned his room before work. 3. They danced at the party tomorrow. 4. Right now Susan cooked her breakfast. 5. Melinda carried her babies to church. |
Correct
Correct Correct Correct Correct |
Incorrect
Incorrect Incorrect Incorrect Incorrect |
Circle the subjects and underline the past tense verbs in the next story
John started to dislike his job. He decided to look for different work. He wanted to do something with his hands. He liked art. He remembered a friend who also liked art. He tried to contact him. He carried his resume to his friend. He explained his story. His friend agreed. He offered him a job!
What about spelling changes? See below for work on spelling changes with past tense and common regular verbs. Can you put them into categories for spelling?
SPELLING RULES OF THE PAST TENSE (regular Verbs) adapted from- http://www.scribd.com/doc/7671143/Spelling-Rules-of-the-Past-Tense
If a regular verb ends with CONSONANT + Y
Change the Y to I before adding ED
carry——carried
copy—–copied
cry—–cried
marry—–married
reply—–replied
study—–studied
If a regular verb ends with CONSONANT+VOWEL+Y
Add ED with no other spelling changes
annoy—–annoyed
enjoy—–enjoyed
play—–played
stay—–stayed
obey—–obeyed
If a regular verb ends with E
Add only D
advise—–advised
agree—–agreed
If a one-syllable verb ends with CONSONANT+VOWEL+CONSONANT
Double the final consonant before adding ED
plan—–planned
rob—–robbed
stop—–stopped
stir—–stirred
zip—–zipped
If a verb with more than one syllable ends with CONSONANT + VOWEL + CONSONANT Double the final consonant before adding ED (only when the last syllable is pronounced more strongly than the others)
prefer—–preferred
regret—–regretted
permit—–permitted
but…
visit—–visited
listen—–listened
develop—–developed
remember—–remembered
Practice with COMMON REGULAR VERBS
Using the spelling rules for regular past tense verbs, put these verbs into the correct categories – then make into past tense correctly
| accept allow ask believe borrow cancel carry change clean comb complain copy cough count cry dance develop enjoy explain fill |
finish fix learn listen live look marry need open close organize permit play prefer rain regret remember reply sign smoke
|
spell spill start stay stop study succeed talk translate travel try turn off turn on type use visit wait want watch work worry |
| Ends in C+Y | Ends in C + V + Y | Ends with E | 1 syllable ends CVC |
>1 syllable stress last syllable ends with CVC |
>1 syllable stress NOT on last syllable ends with CVC |
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ESL in York 