The bird was in the cage yesterday, it wasn’t out.
The workmen were on the roof, they weren’t in the building.
As seen above, was and were refer to the past time. We use was with I, he, she, ıt or with a singular noun. Were is used with we, you, they or with plural nouns.
Exercise 1. Fill in the blanks with was or were.
1. He was in Ankara two days ago.
2. We were in the garden.
3. Where ……………………… you last night ?
4. What ……………………….. your number at primary scholl ?
5. My parents ………………….. very happy yesterday.
6. How many people ………………………. there at the party ?
7. …………………….. the milk in the bottle or in the glass ?
8. Why …………………………… you late yesterday ?
9. We …………………… not in the lab previously.
10. She ………………….. ill last week.
11. My brother ……………………………. not with me yesterday.
12. The questions ……………………….. not so difficult.
13. ………………………. it sunny yesterday?
14. How much butter ………………………… there on the plate ?
15. ……………………… the film on TV last night exciting ?
16. The weather …………………………… pretty cold yesterday.
17. When …………………………… you in USA.
18. …………………… your parents at home or at the Brown’s ?
19. Why …………………………. Susan upset this morning ?
20. The Carters ………………………….. very busy last week.
21. A couple of students ……………………… in the library.
22. The vase ………………….. on the table.
23. The restaurant …………………………. overcrowded.
24. My grandparents ………………………… economical with their money.
25. My grandmother …………………………. an optimistic person.
Study the examples.
I learnt their address a few years ago. Edıson invented the electric bulb. yesterday. I watched TV last night when I visited the town,it was in 1996
As seen above, we use the simple past tense to express an action that happaned at a difinite time in the past. NOTE : There are two kinds of verbs according to their conjugation. The verbs whose past forms are obtained by adding -ed are called regular verbs, others are called irregular verbs.
Look at the examples. A porter carried my luggage to my room yesterday. (1) Rose liked the film on TV last night. (2)
As seen above, when regular verbs ending in -y (carry, cry, dry, etc.) are used in the simple past tense, the letter -y changes into -i if the previous letter is a consonant, -ied is added to the main verb (1), while using the simple past tense form of regular verbs ending in -e (like, cure, die, dye, etc.) only the suffix -d is added to the verb (2).
Exercise 2 Arrange the following to make meaningful sentences.
1. sleep / night / I / well / last / didn’t. 2. for / they / weeks / two / Antalya / in stayed. 3. Tom / a clerk / in / work as / the bank / did ? 4. for / much / you / this / how / did / pay / house / money ? 5. saw / the party / nobody / us / leave. 6. broke his / match / the / leg / during / Jack. 7. first / two / Hakan / in lovely / half / goals / scored / the. 8. bill / last / pay / electric / forgot / month / I / to / the. 9. guided / the / to / who / tomb / you ? 10. on / the / advice / smoking / gave / Dad / doctor’s / up.
Exercise 3. Write the past form of the following verbs.
1. study …………………. 2. sell …………………. 3. do …………………. 4. pay …………………. 5. say …………………. 6. run …………………. 7. play …………………. 8. tidy …………………. 9. carry …………………. 10. has …………………. 11. marry …………………. 12. write …………………. 13. make …………………. 14. give …………………. 15. forgive …………………. 16. lend 17. put …………………. 18. send …………………. 19. sit …………………. 20. leave …………………. 21. see …………………. 22. break …………………. 23. take …………………. 24. choose …………………. 25. wear ………………….
Exercise 4. Make these sentences negative. (-)
1. He mended the car by himself. He didn’t mend the car by himself. 2. They came yesterday. 3. Did anybody help you with writing this composition ? 4. She used to be aesygoing before she was ill. 5. We were there when the fire broke out. 6. You had to do it they day. 7. A group of businessmen flew to America last week. 8. He was good at maths. 9. She did the washing-up this morning. 10. I saw them waiting at the bus stop. 11. They stayed in a tent during the summer holiday. 12. Kemal painted the door brown. 13. Nancy was late for work all last week. 14. She sold her car last Sunday. 15. Mert put all his money in the bank.
Exercise 5. Make these sentences affirmative.(+)
1. No, they didn’t go to the cinema with us. 2. She didn’t pay all her taxes on time. 3. No, I wasn’t late for the lesson yesterday. 4. No, you didn’t study hard last year. 5. No, Rose didn’t have any penfriends
The past tense of ” to be ”| Simple past tense (verb)
