Simple Past Tense

The Simple Past Tense is used for a past action. We know when the action happened. Therefore, words and phrases like ‘a few seconds ago’, ‘just now’, ‘this morning’, ‘yesterday’, ‘last month’, ‘last year’, ‘last Christmas’, etc. are often used in sentences written in the simple past tense.

Examples:

I saw Robin last week.

We toured Europe last year.

Jenny drove to her friend’s house last evening.

My colleagues and I went hiking last Saturday.

Grandmother took her medicine about an hour ago.

Dorothy swept the floor this morning.

The airplane landed at the airport at 10 a.m. yesterday.

They completed their project a week ago.

The police arrested the robbers last Wednesday.

A few days ago, Belinda spoke to the dean of the university.




Exercises

A. Give the simple past tense of the following verbs.

1. carry – ____________

2. beg – ____________

3. build – ____________

4. study – ____________

5. learn – ____________

6. burst – ____________

7. wait – ____________

8. choose – ____________

9. read – ____________

10. forget – ____________

11. apologize – ____________

12. reply – ____________

13. forgive– ____________

14. lose – ____________

15. laugh – ____________

16. sell – ____________

17. shake – ____________

18. kneel – ____________

19. bleed – ____________

20. spill – ____________


B. Fill in the blanks with the simple past tense of the verbs given in brackets.

1. Tommy ____________ (show) me his photo albums a while ago.

2. I ____________ (wear) this jacket when I ____________ (go) shopping yesterday.

3. Jolene ____________ (spend) some time reading yesterday afternoon.

4. You ____________ (leave) you umbrella at school last week.

5. I ____________ (think) of visiting you last month but ____________ (have) no transport.

6. The children ____________ (fly) kites last week.

7. Firemen ____________ (arrive) and ____________ (put) out the fire shortly.

8. My pet cat ____________ (catch) a mouse last month.

9. My dad’s car ____________ (break) down yesterday morning. So, I ____________ (take) a cab to school.

10. Wendy ____________ (hurt) her knee while playing netball three days ago.


Answers

A.

1. carried

2. begged

3. built

4. studied

5. learned

6. burst

7. waited

8. chose

9. read

10. forgot

11. apologized

12. replied

13. forgave

14. lost

15. laughed

16. sold

17. shook

18. knelt

19. bled

20. spilled


B.

1. showed

2. wore, went

3. spent

4. left

5. thought, had

6. flew

7. arrived, put

8. caught

9. broke, took

10. hurt