Writing using the past tenseLesson three – Writing 100

Creative Common Copyright, 2010Colleen Rogan EDER 669.64

When do we use the past tense?

pastpastfuturefuture

• We use the past tense to talk about something that is finished

• We use time words: yesterday, two months ago, last year, this morning……… Can you think of some more?

Present tense

We learned about 3 kinds of past tense verbs

1.Regular verbs

• Add -ed to the end of the verb

• Remember the spelling rules

Adding -ed: spelling rules

study studied

play

plan

clean

arrive

BUT

played

planned

cleaned

arrived

BUT

Now practice!

2. Irregular verbs

Irregular verbs don’t have –ed. The word changes. You need to MEMORIZE the irregular verbs in English. Example : eat -> ate

BRAINSTORM!!

3. To be verbs

• We use the verbs was and were with a noun phrase = place, person, thing, animal

Example: It was a tiger.

an adjective phrase = describes something or someone

Example: She was beautiful.

Now practice!

Negative sentences

Use didn’t with regular verbsExample: She didn’t go to the movie with me.

Use not with was and wereExample: The students were not in the class.

were not -> weren’twas not -> wasn’t

Now practice!

A Fun Trip!

Where did you go?

Who did you go with?

Why did you go there?

What did you do?

What surprised you?

WOW!!!!

How long did you stay?

Talk about a trip you took…….

• Ask your partner as many questions as you can think of about a trip OR their trip to Vancouver.