Module 8
Objective:
Review of and practice with past tense verbs
Directions:
Read the explanations and examples of each verb tense carefully. Then
do the exercises 1--6. The following websites are also useful. Copy and
paste the links into your web browser. Refer to these websites, as
needed.
Verb Tenses:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/601/01
Irregular Verbs
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/605/01/
HOW DO WE USE THE PAST TENSES?
You are now familiar with the various tenses in English that relate to the present
established time. Of course, you know that there is also a past established time, and
there are tenses that we use when a writer wants to tell about events or actions that
happened in the past time.
The Simple Past Tense
The simple past tense is formed with the past form of the main verb. It has two
main uses.
1. It is used to express an action that took place at a specific time in the past. The action
was completed.
Last summer, I spent my vacation in Cancun.
(past time, completed action)
We flew to Singapore on the Concord.
(past time, completed action)
2. It is used with any stative verb to show past time. The state or condition no longer
exists.
John wanted to go to bed early.
(past state or condition)
He had three goldfish, but they died.
(past state or condition [had] and a past completed action [died])
Notice how the past tense works in the paragraph below:
The war that occurred in the U.S. between 1861 and 1865 has two names.
Many people call it the Civil War, but in the South it is often called the War
Between the States. It began because eleven states in the southern part of the
country decided to secede from, or leave, the union of states to form a separate
nation. There were many differences between the northern and southern states,
and the leaders of these two regions did not agree on a common system of
government. As a result, the soldiers for the South attacked Fort Sumter in
South Carolina on April 12, 1861, and the war began.
It is important not to get confused between the simple past and the present perfect
tenses. If you have established the present time and want to refer to an earlier event,
you can do this with the present perfect tense. Remember that the present perfect refers
to a past event that took place at an indefinite time in the past, or a past event that still
has a connection to the present time. The simple past refers to an event that was
completed at a specific past time. Certain time signals often occur with the present
perfect and present perfect continuous tenses.
Time Signal
Example Sentence
for + a period of time
I have been studying math for 10 years.
since + a specific time
I have been studying math since 2002.
until now/up to now/up till now
I haven't had any tests up till now.
yet (with questions + negative)
Has she eaten dinner yet?
already
She has eaten three tacos already.
so far
So far, he has read two chapters.
Exercise 1
Use simple present, present perfect, present perfect continuous or simple past.
1.
Charles works at Texas Instruments. He has worked there for
(work)
(work)
several years. He took the job after he moved to Houston in 2007.
(take)
2.
(move)
The Robinsons live in Sugarland. They have lived there
(live)
(live)
since last year. The two oldest children started college at
(start)
Houston Community College-SW at the beginning of this semester.
3.
Ray made a mistake yesterday. He sent a complaint about his
(make)
(send)
boss to the president of the company. Since then, his boss has given
(give)
him the cold shoulder. Ray _doesn’t like_ his boss much anyway.
(neg-like)
4.
Computers
used to cost a lot of money. Over the past ten years, they
(use)
have come down in price. However, some families still don’t have
(come)
(neg-have)
money to buy one, but people find inexpensive
(find)
computers for sale on the Internet or in the classified ads every day.
5.
Tutors regularly help students in college. HCCS has had
(help)
(have)
tutoring in English, math, and science for a long time. This service does not
cost (neg-cost) anything for students. The service is included in the fees.
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Exercise 2
Complete the paragraph by using either the simple past or present perfect tense.
In 1836, the Allen brothers ____sailed____ up Buffalo
(sail)
Bayou and ___established___ a new city -- Houston. Since that time,
(establish)
Houston _has grown_ into the fourth largest city in the U.S.
(grow)
Over the years, the Houston area __has experienced__ some of the
(experience)
worst disasters to ever hit the U.S. Major hurricanes __destroyed__
(destroy)
property in 1900 and 1961, and they ____killed__ thousands of
(kill)
people. A ship carrying chemicals __exploded___ in Texas City
(explode)
harbor in 1947, and over 500 people ____died___ . In the early
(die)
1980’s the energy-based economy _entered___ a recession. In
(enter)
spite of these events, Houston ___has contiued___ to grow and
(continue)
prosper. People from all over _come___ here to start new
(come)
lives. They ____find____ a city that _has changed______ over
(find)
(change)
the years and ___has not stopped___ changing since it ___began_______
(stop - neg)
(begin)
as a dusty town more than 150 years ago.
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The Past Continuous Tense
The past continuous tense is formed with the correct past form of the auxiliary be
(was, were) and the -ing form of the main verb. It has two main uses.
1. It is used to indicate an action that was already in progress when another action in
the past time occurred. Look carefully at the use of when and while in the examples.
I was writing the conclusion of my essay when the teacher asked me to stop.
(past time, one action in progress [writing]
when another happened [asked])
While I was writing the conclusion of my essay, the teacher asked me to stop.
(past time, one action in progress [writing]
when another happened [asked])
2. It is used to express two actions that were happening at the same time in the past.
We also frequently use while when we use the past continuous this way.
Peter was washing the dishes while Mary was playing with the baby.
(two past actions in progress at the same time)
Nero was fiddling while Rome was burning.
(two past actions in progress at the same time)
Notice how the past continuous tense is used in the following paragraph.
The year 1989 marked a significant turning point in the history of the world.
While the students in China were protesting in Tienanmen Square, the citizens
of East Germany were demonstrating near the Berlin Wall. Communist regimes
were falling apart in Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslovakia while the leaders of
the USSR were changing the rules of government in that country. At the same
time, millions of Bulgarians and Romanians were speaking out against their
governments. The Baltic Republics of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were
rebelling against more than forty years of Soviet rule when Soviet leader
Gorbachev sent soldiers to gain control of the region.
The Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous Tenses
The past perfect tense is formed with the past form of the auxiliary have (had) and the
past participle form of the main verb. It has one primary use.
1. It is used to tell about an event that happened in the past at an earlier time (before)
another past event.
He had already eaten breakfast when I woke up.
(two past events, one happened [had eaten] before the other [woke up])
Jill said that she had seen Jack in the hospital the day before.
(two past events, one happened [had seen] before the other [said])
Some of the time signals that we use with the present perfect tense can be used here,
too.
Time Signal
Example Sentence
for + a period of time
When he arrived in Houston, he had just
graduated from college.
since + a specific time
He graduated in 2008, but he had been
in college since 2004.
By…/By the time
By the age of ten, Mozart had composed
many orchestral works.
already
Mozart had already written many
operas when he died at age 35.
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The past perfect continuous tense is a combination of the past perfect and past
continuous tenses. It is formed with the past form of the auxiliary have (had), followed
by the past participle form of the auxiliary be (been) and the -ing form of the main verb.
It has one major use.
1. It is used to indicate that one action began in the past before another action and the
first action was continuing over a period of time before the other event occurred.
Hemingway had been writing for many years before he won the Nobel
Prize for Literature in 1954.
(two past events, one in progress [had been writing] before the other
occurred [won])
The students had been waiting anxiously for 15 minutes when the teacher
finally arrived with the test.
(two past events, one in progress [had been waiting] before the other
occurred [arrived])
Notice how the past perfect and past perfect continuous tenses work in this
paragraph.
Before the American Civil War started, several important differences
between the North and the South had existed and had been making cooperation
between these two regions very difficult. People in territories west of the
Mississippi River had wanted to join the union of states, but their status had
depended on their attitudes toward slavery. The southern territories were more
agricultural than the northern ones, and for many years they had been
depending on slaves to work the farms and plantations. The northern territories
were industrial, so these states had been using cotton and other raw materials
that the South produced to make clothes and other finished products. Moreover,
the northern states had opposed slavery as inhumane. The North and the South
had also not been able to agree on the distribution of tax money to pay for roads
and education in the new, western territories. Finally, Congress decided to
admit Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state in 1819. In 1820 the
legislation called the Missouri Compromise said that all new states north of
Missouri would be free. Between 1820 and 1860, this law gave the North more
territory than the South. As a result of this discord, by the spring of 1860, South
Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas had
seceded from the union. By March 1861, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee,
and Arkansas had joined their southern neighbors.
Exercise 3
Complete the following paragraph using the simple present, the simple past, the
present perfect, and the past perfect tenses. Notice how the established time changes
within the paragraph between present and past. Note: pay attention to time signals!
David___considers___ himself a world traveler. In the 60 years of
(consider)
his life, he _has visited_______ countries on four continents. His
(visit)
favorite continent ___is_____ Europe. When he____was___
(be)
(be)
a college student, he__lived_____ in France, and he__visited______
(live)
(visit)
many countries in Europe, including Germany, Switzerland, Italy,
Spain, and Greece. Since that time, he___has returned_____ several
(return)
times to Europe, but so far, he__hasn’t visited______ any countries in
(visit - neg)
Scandinavia. He also ___has lived______ in the Far East. Five years
(live)
ago, he____taught____ English in Japan. By the time he left, David
(teach)
____had acquired_______ a love of Japanese culture and literature, which he
(acquire)
still __has____ today. The only continent he___has not visited_____
(have)
(visit - neg)
yet is Australia, but he___hopes_____ to see it before he____dies__.
(hope)
(die)
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The Future-From-the-Past Tense
Sometimes when we have established a past time, we want to talk about an event
that happened at a later time than our established time. To do this, we use the “futurefrom-the-past tense.” It is formed with the modal would (which is the form of will that
indicates past time) followed by the base form of the main verb. It has two main uses.
1. It is used to discuss an event that took place at a later time (after) another past event.
In other words, the writer is “standing” in the past and “looking” toward the future.
We all thought the cat would die when it fell off the roof.
(two past events, one [would die] happening after the other [thought, fell])
Some people in Mexico believed that the world would end in 2012.
(two past events, one [would end] happening after the other [believed])
2. It is used to report someone’s ideas when the speaker has used the future tense. You
may already be familiar with this use of future-from-the-past if you have studied
reported speech.
Post Office Official: The Post Office will increase the cost of a stamp.
(future event [will increase])
Reporter: The official said that the Post Office would increase
the cost of a stamp.
(future event [would increase] reported from the past point of view [said])
Even if the later event will happen in the future, if you have established a past time,
you must use the future-from-the-past to refer to that event.
Yesterday, you said that you would help me next week.
(later event [would help] is still in the future [next week], but the established
time is the past [said--yesterday])
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Notice how the future-from-the-past works in this paragraph.
When the German printer, Gutenberg, invented the printing press around
the year 1450, he probably knew that he would change the course of history. He
realized that his invention would require people to use a standard alphabet and
spelling system. It would make books cheap to print and easy to obtain. The
printing press would allow the communication of ideas and knowledge to
flourish. Gutenberg probably didn’t know, however, that by 1487 nearly every
country in Europe would have printing presses to mass produce the written
word.
Exercise 4
Fill in the blanks in the following paragraph using the past tenses that you have studied
in the verb modules. Try to use the simple past, past continuous, past perfect, past
perfect continuous, and future-from-the-past tenses.
Ludwig von Beethoven _______is__ one of the greatest
(be)
composers of the classical period. He ___gave___ the world
(give)
some of its most wonderful and stirring music. Amazingly, he
__wrote___ some of this best music after he ____became____ deaf!
(write)
(become)
Beethoven __was _____ born in December 1770 in Bonn,
(be)
Germany. His father ____had been_______ a musician in a German
(be)
court for many years, and he ___encouraged_______ his son to study
(encourage)
music. When he ______was____________ 17, his mother ____died_
(be)
(die)
while Ludwig ____was performing________ concerts in Vienna. When his
(perform)
father ___passed________ away in 1792, Beethoven __had already
(pass)
been supporting_____ his family for four years by playing the violin in an
(support)
orchestra. From 1795 on, his fame _____grew______, and in 1804,
(grow)
he ____decided___ that he ____would write_______ an opera. The
(decide)
(write)
opera, called Fidelio , _______was______ a failure, and while he
(be)
__was rewriting________ it, he ______fought______________ with his sister-in-law
(rewrite)
(fight)
to get custody of his orphaned nephew.
He ___died______ in 1827, and thousands
(die)
of people ___attended_______ his funeral. They __agreed_____
(attend)
(agree)
that they __would not let___________ Beethoven be forgotten as so many
(let - neg)
other great composers _____had been____ forgotten before him.
(be)
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Exercise 5
Use the information below about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to write a paragraph in
which you use the past tenses. Try to use the simple past, past continuous, past
perfect, past perfect continuous, and future-from-the-past. The base from of the verb
is used to in the list of events, below. You must use only past tenses in your paragraph.
Time
Event
in 1929
be born
in 1948
graduate from Morehouse college at the age of 19
from 1948-1951
study the teachings of the Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi
in 1951
receive a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Crozer
Theological Seminary
in 1955
earn a PhD from Boston University (B.U.)
while at B.U.
meet and marry Coretta Scott
December 1955
lead a boycott of the Montgomery, Alabama bus system
in 1956
support U. S. Supreme Court decision to make segregation
on public buses unconstitutional
in 1957
organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
(SCLC); later become pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in
Atlanta
from 1957-1962
organize civil rights protests throughout southern U.S.
in 1963
lead about 250,000 people on the “March on Washington”;
then, give his “I Have a Dream” speech
in 1965
set up black voter registration campaign in Selma, Alabama
by March 1965
lead “Freedom March” from Selma to Montgomery,
Alabama
April 1968
be assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee by James Earl Ray
Exercise 6
Complete the following short dialogues with the simple past or past continuous tenses.
Scenario: Police investigation of a local crime
Police Officer: Mr. Smith, what (do)___were you doing___ at 9:30 last night?
Mr. Smith: Well, I (watch)____was watching_ T.V. Why? What's going on?
Officer: Your neighbor (see)_has seen_a suspicious person in your yard.
Mr. Smith: Which neighbor (tell)__told__you that?
Officer: Mrs. Mertz (walk)_was walking__her dog at about that time when she
(notice)__noticed__someone outside your kitchen window.
Mr. Smith: That (be)___was__my son! He (forget)__forgot___his keys and tried to ring
the doorbell. It (neg-work)_didn’t work________, so he (knock)____knocked__on the
window to get my attention.
Officer: Thank you. We (need)_need___to follow up on Mrs. Mertz’s report. At about
9:45 last night, someone (rob)__robbed__the Stop-N-Shop on the corner.
Scenario: While you were out...
Boss: I'm so glad you're back! While you (be)__were__out, the office (fall) fell___apart.
The phones (ring)___rang___off the hook. The clients (come)___came__in and out all
day long. Several people (complain)__complained__about the slow service. No one
(know)__knew__ how to fix the Xerox machine.
Secretary: It sounds like yesterday (be)_was_a typical day. How (do)__did___ you
manage without me?
Boss: I (answer)__answered__the phone while John from downstairs (try)__tried__to
clear the jam in the Xerox machine. After I (handle)__had handled__one crisis, another
problem (come)___came_up.
Secretary: Do you remember last month when we (talk)_talked__about my salary? At
that time, you (neg-think)_didn’t think___that I (deserve)__deserved___an increase.
How do you feel about giving me a raise now?