GRAMÁTICA : Simple Past Tense #2, by Dennis Oliver

Simple Past Tense #2, by Dennis Oliver

    Simple Past Tense #2

English uses verbs in the simple past tense to refer to actions, situations, or events that are finished and that happened before now. There are three ways to form simple past tense in English. One way is what happens with the verb be: it uses the special forms was and were. Another way is what happens with regular verbs. (They are called regular because they all add the same ending--ed--or some variation on it.)

______________________________ The Simple Past: Regular Verbs

Regular verbs make their past tense by adding - d, - ed, or (if the verb ends in a consonant + y), changing the y to i and then adding - ed. Examples: Add -d:    baked, cared, eased, filed, greased, hated, liked, piled, raced, seized, smiled, typed, wheezed, whined       Change y to i and add -ed:   apply / applied; bury / buried; cry / cried; fry / fried; hurry / hurried; marry / married; pry / pried; spy / spied try / tried vary / varied worry / worried       Add -ed:    other regular verbs: asked, belonged, clapped, dialed, filled, guessed, hopped, looked, marked, needed, pulled, reached, started, touched, viewed, washed, yelled, zipped __________________________________________ Special Notes: 1.   Add only - d if a regular verb ends in one or more vowels, a single consonant (except x), and e. See the examples above.       2.   If a regular verb ends in a single vowel and a single consonant (except x), double the consonant before you add -ed: beg / begged; clap / clapped; fan / fanned; hop / hopped; jog / jogged; mar / marred; pin / pinned; rip / ripped; slam / slammed; tan / tanned; whip / whipped; zip / zipped Compare these verbs: hop / hopped and hope / hoped; pin / pinned and pine / pined file / filed and fill / filled; like / liked and lick / licked       3.   If a regular verb has two or more syllables, if the verb ends in l or r, and if the last syllable is stressed, double the l or r before you add -ed: compél / compelled; confér / conferred; contról / controlled; defér / deferred; fulfíl / fulfilled; prefér / preferred; propél / propelled If a regular verb has two or more syllables, if the verb ends in l or r, and if the last syllable is not stressed, do not double the l or r, before you add -ed: cáncel / canceled; hónor / honored; súffer / suffered; trável / traveled Note that British spelling does not use this rule.       4.   If a regular verb ends in a consonant and y (or if the final syllable of a regular verb ends in this way), change the y to i and then add -ed: apply / applied; bury / buried; cry / cried; copy / copied; defy / defied; fry / fried; falsify / falsified; hurry / hurried; modify / modified; pity / pitied; qualify / qualified; reply / replied; spy / spied; supply / supplied; try / tried       5.   If a regular verb ends in a vowel and y (or if the final syllable of a regular verb ends in this way), do not change the y to i and then add -ed: annoy / annoyed; dismay / dismayed; enjoy / enjoyed; obey / obeyed; play / played; stay / stayed       6.   If a regular verb ends in x, add only - ed. Do not double the x: box / boxed; fax / faxed; mix / mixed; tax / taxed       7.   Regular verbs ending in other spelling patterns usually add -ed.

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