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simple


1. How to make the past simple ?

With most verbs, the past simple is created by adding -ED.

Verb ending in... How to make the simple past Examples
e Add -D live => lived

date => dated
Consonant +y Change y to i, then add -ED try => tried

cry => cried
One consonant + one vowel + one consonant
(but NOT w or y)
Double the consonant, then add -ED
Listen and hapen are exceptions to this rule.
tap => tapped

commit => committed
anything else including w Add -ED boil => boiled

fill => filled

hand => handed

show => showed
c Add -KED panic => panicked

2. when we use past simple ?



1 Finished events in the past with no connection to the present:

Leonardo painted the Mona Lisa.
The Vikings invaded Britain.
2 With a finished time word (yesterday, last week, at 2 o'clock, in 2003):

I went to the cinema yesterday.
We visited Japan in 2007.
3 For habit in the past

I collected stamps when I was a child.
4 For stories / lists of events:

He went to a café, sat down and lit a cigarette.
Yesterday I went to the library, met a friend for lunch, and played tennis.

Now, you can do some exercises.

Click here