Simple Past

Simple Past

The simple past is used to refer to events that concluded in the past.

Examples:

Antony read a book yesterday.

William went to the mall last Saturday.

Lisa ate a hamburger at Burger King last night.

She ran along the beach when she went to Trujillo. 

Emely wrote a paragraph about a past experience.

The cat drank all the milk from the bowl. 

We sat under a big tree this morning.

Armando and George bought many soda cans for the pool party. 

Time Expressions to Express Past Events

• yesterday
• last night
• last week
• last weekend
• last Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, ... Saturday, Sunday
• last month
• last year
• last period

Click on the following links to watch and listen the pronunciation of the Regular and Irregular verbs in simple past.

Sentence examples with pronunciation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWZ6cNq6bEY

Pronunciation of irregular verbs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEfqj6J5cBQ

Reading 

My last holiday was fantastic. I went to the mountains in a place called Salalah in Oman. The mountains were so green and the people were so friendly. I visited many places like, forts, beaches, the hotels at night and went shopping in the grand mall. I stayed there for 10 days. The weather was really nice and it was great for camping. So we went camping on the mountains and made a small fire for BBQ.

Exercises

Fill in the Blank

Exercise

Directions: Complete the story with verbs in past tense. 

Simple Past: Robin Hood 

Adapted by R. A. Estrada 

Did you know that Robin Hood was a squire? He ______________ (be not) a vulgar thief. He _____________ (be) a man of means who ________________ (leave) his comforts to help the poor and needy. During the reign of King Richard the First, or better known as the Lion Heart, many worthy men ________________ (rise) against Prince John’s cruel government. Villagers _______________ (suffer) because of high taxes ________________ (impose) by Prince John or by the money they ______________ (have) to pay to his mean officials. However, Robin Hood and his band of merry men _______________ (help) those in need. They ____________ (steal) the gold coins or whatever products the cruel officials ______________ (carry) with them. Afterwards, they ____________ (give) this money and products to the poor villagers or to the needy in the street. An interesting fact about Robin Hood and his band is that they ____________________ (not harm) women, children or elders. They ________________ (remain) true to their code of honor. 

Paragraph Example

Directions: Underline the verbs in past tense.

Simple Past: La Tigra 

R. A. Estrada 

On arriving to La Tigra, I saw the most astonishing trees I had ever seen. I found the place quite relaxing and peace-inducing. The tall trees elevated to great heights above my head. I stretched my head backwards to see the top. As I walked up through the foggy woods I felt tired and thirsty, so I drank some water. I stopped at times to take in deep breaths and at other times I stopped to appreciate the magnificent trees and the mossy rocks. Also, I wrote short details about the view of the mountain. I kept advancing uphill until I got to a flat part. I sat down for a while to rest. Then, I went to the Granadillas Pathway. Over there I found a different weather. It was fresh but more humid. The vegetation remained beautiful though. When it was 10:00 A.M. I ate a sandwich and opened a big bag of Zambos. I began to walk again to get to the entrance of the park. I thought I was not going to make it since the trekking was exhausting. I made a great effort to continue the move. And I said. “I can’t stay here for long. I must carry on.” After that, I did some inspection in the cabins inside the park cabins. I left the park at 11:45 A.M. It was tiring, yet I learned about the vegetation of the place and of the animals living there for I knew nothing about the place.  

Now tell me in the comments about an incredible past experience that you had. Write your full name and then your experience.