Grammar - Simple Past Tense

Introduction:

The meaning of past is “earlier than the present time”. Thus Past is a tense used to express any action which took place earlier & no longer exists.  

Simple Past Tense is used to talk about a finished action which has no relation to the present.

In simple past tense, past form of verb is used. On the basis of their Past form, verbs can be categorised in two  - Regular Verbs & Irregular Verbs.

Regular Verbs – The verbs whose past form is formed by adding the alphabets “d” and “ed” at their end, are called as Regular Verbs. 

Example: play. Its past form is played. Some more examples of regular verbs are walk, talk, look etc.

Irregular Verbs – The verbs whose past form is not formed by adding the alphabets “d” and “ed” at their end, are called as Irregular Verbs.

Example: see, the past form of see is seen. Some more examples are do, give, sleep etc.

Sentence Structure in Simple Past Tense:

a) Positive or Affirmative Sentence:

Subject              Verb in past form           rest of the sentence

I                                   looked                          at her.

We                                went                            to the market.

Rohan                            slept                            early.

b) Negative Sentence – did not (didn’t) is used to make negative sentences

Subject did not(didn’t)                Verb in base form                      Rest of the sentence

I                             didn’t                                    look                                                       at her.

We                         didn’t                                    go                                                           to the market.

Rohan                    didn’t                                    sleep                                                       early.

c) Questions :

Question Word                     Auxiliary verb            subject                   Verb            Rest of the sentence

Did                                                                        you                          go              to the market?

When                                    did                            you                          go              to the market?

How to use Adjective in English?

what is an adjective ?

An adjective is a word that describes noun. For example long, short, big, easy, difficult, beautiful etc. 

The adjectives can be categorised as:

Adjective of Quality: It tells the quality of noun.  

Examples: Large, tall, stunning, filthy etc.

Adjective of Quantity: It tells the count of a noun.

Example: many, some, little, few etc.

The other function of adjective is to compare nouns with its different degrees:  base, comparative and superlative. 

Base Degree: It is used to introduce the quality of noun.

Example:

Priya is an intelligent girl.

Honey is sweet.

In these examples intelligent and sweet are the adjectives.

Comparative Degree: It is used to make comparisons between two nouns. It is formed by either adding the word “more” before adjective or the alphabets “er” after the adjective.

Examples:

Priya is more intelligent than Ravi.

Honey is sweeter than sugar.

In these examples “more intelligent” and “sweeter” are the comparative degrees of adjectives “intelligent” and “sweet” respectively.

Superlative Degree: It is used to choose one best or worst noun out of many similar nouns. It is formed by either adding the word “most” before adjective or the alphabets “est” after the “adjective”.

Examples:

Priya is the most intelligent girl in her class.

Honey is the sweetest thing.

In these examples “most intelligent” and “sweetest” are the superlative degrees of adjectives “intelligent” and “sweet” respectively.

Learn Tenses with Examples

Tense indicates the time of a verb. We use tenses in English to talk about the time of action. There are three forms of tense - Past, Present and Future. Each of these has four sub types. They have a definite usage.

Present Tense expresses the situation that exists only in the current time. It also represents repeated actions and unchanging truths. 

For example:

I wake up at 6:00am every day. (Repeated action).

The sun rises in the east (Unchanging truth).

He is sleeping right now. 

Past tense expresses those actions which were started & finished in past.   Also it is used in conditional sentences to talk about hypothetical situations where it refers the future tense.

For example: 

I was very naughty when I was young.

We went to the market yesterday.

If he had come on time, we would have reached early.

Future Tense expresses the time which is yet to come.  Thus it talks about the actions which will happen in future. In future tense will/ shall are used to make sentences. Both have same meaning but “Shall” is more polite.

For example: 

I will go to Chennai next week

Shall I come with you?

I won’t have lunch today.

Almost every grammar rule has some exceptions; therefore the usage of tenses is not simple. However English learning can begin with some basic information about the tenses.

LEARNING GRAMMAR FREE

Grammar is the systematic structure of any Language and thus called as its foundation. It is impossible to speak any Language without learning its grammar.  Though profound knowledge is not required but the basic concepts should be clear for fluency. In English grammar, if the parts of Speech are clear then one can speak fluently.

The parts of speech consist of Nouns, Pronouns, Verbs, Prepositions, Adverbs, Conjunctions and Interjections. 

The nouns are the naming words like the name of a person, place or a thing while the pronouns are the words which replace nouns like he, she, it, you, we and they.  The verbs are the action words and tell what a noun and pronoun do. For example walk, talk, look, eat, sleep etc.

Prepositions are the words which establish the relation of a noun & pronoun with other words to make a meaningful sentence. The prepositions can be categorised according to their usage, like place, time, and direction. Most common prepositions often used are at, in, on. They can be used to talk about time as well as for place. For example: I will see you on Sunday (“on” as time preposition). The book is on the table. (“On” as place preposition).

The adverbs are the words which modify a verb and conjunction functions as a connector for more than one sentence and the interjection shows the emotions & sentiments of speaker.

Thus in nutshell grammar is the mechanism to combine words to make meaningful sentences.