Tomislav Skračić, MA
Undergraduate English
Course for
MARINE ENGINEERS
1st Semester
Essential reading:
SPINČIĆ, A., An English Textbook For Marine
Engineers I., Pomorski fakultet, Rijeka 2008.
LUZER, J., SPINČIĆ, A., Gramatička vježbenica
engleskog jezika za pomorce, Pomorski
fakultet, Rijeka 2003.
The Simple Past (The Past Tense)
Study these sentences:
Last year I went for a holiday to Spain.
I stayed in a small hotel by the sea.
I swam in the sea and sunbathed on the beach.
In the evening I sat in an outdoor restaurant and watched
the people.
I ate Spanish food and drank Spanish wine.
I enjoyed my holiday very much.
The Simple Past – Use
•
The Simple Past Tense is used about an action that
happened at a definite time in the past.
• The action is not connected to the moment of
speaking - it is finished.
Sir Francis Drake grew up in Plymouth. He lived
from 1540 to 1596. In 1577 he set out on his
famous voyage and sailed round the world. He
returned to England in 1580 and became one of
the most famous Englishmen of his age.
How to form The Simple Past
REGULAR VERBS
The Past Tense of regular verbs has the ending –ed.
LIVE
WATCH
1. I lived in Croatia.
I watched TV every day.
2. You lived in Croatia.
You watched TV every day.
3. He / She / It lived in Croatia. He / She / It watched TV every day.
1. We lived in Croatia.
2. You lived in Croatia.
3. They lived in Croatia.
We watched TV every day.
You watched TV every day.
They watched TV every day.
How to form The Simple Past
REGULAR VERBS – PRONUNCIATION
The Past Tense of regular verbs has the ending –ed.
The ending –ed is pronounced in 3 ways:
1. after voiceless consonants p, k, f, s, sh, ch the
ending –ed is pronounced (t):
wash - washed (t)
finish - finished (t)
watch - watched (t)
help - helped (t)
work - worked (t)
How to form The Simple Past
REGULAR VERBS – PRONUNCIATION
2) after voiced consonants b, g, m, n, l ,r, v, z, the
ending –ed is pronounced (d):
stab - stabbed (d)
enter - entered (d)
cry - cried (d)
move - moved (d)
manage - managed (d)
pull - pulled (d)
3) after –t or-d the ending –ed is pronounced (id):
end - ended (id)
start - started (id)
How to form The Simple Past
IRREGULAR VERBS
Many verbs are irregular. They take no ending –ed.
(See the List of irregular verbs)
Examples:
make – made, write – wrote, keep – kept, run – ran,
become – became, set – set, hit – hit, do – did...
Sir Francis Drake grew up in Plymouth.
He set out on his voyage round the world in 1577.
Last year I went for a holiday to Spain.
I ate Spanish food and drank Spanish wine.
The ship hit an iceberg and sank.
The Simple Past – Questions
Questions are formed with the auxiliary verb
DID + main verb (the basic form)
Marta lived in Split. >>> Did Marta live in Split?
I went to Spain.
>>> Where did you go?
I stayed in a hotel. >>> Where did you stay?
We ate Spanish food. >>> Did you eat Spanish food?
We swam, walked and had fun. >>> What did you do?
It was sunny and warm. >>> How was the weather?
It was expensive. >>> Was it expensive?
The Simple Past – Negations
Negations are formed with
DID NOT (DIDN’T) + main verb (the basic form)
Marta lived in Split. >>> Marta did not live in Split.
I went to Spain.
>>> I did not go to Spain.
I stayed in a hotel. >>> I did not stay in a hotel.
We ate Spanish food. >>> We did not eat Spanish food.
It was expensive. >>> It was not expensive.
NOTE: The short form didn’t in everyday speech:
I did not go to Spain. = I didn’t go to Spain.
We did not eat Spanish food. = We didn’t eat Spanish food.
The Simple Past of the verbs BE
BE (was, were)
1. I was a good engineer.
2. You were right.
3. He / She / It was here.
1. We were in Spain.
2. You were too busy.
3. They were happy.
NEGATIONS:
I was an engineer. >>> I was not an engineer. (I wasn’t an engineer.)
They were happy. >>> They were not happy. (They weren’t happy.)
QUESTIONS:
She was here. >>> Was she here?
They were happy. >>> Were they happy?