Open English lesson in 4th grade “Simple past tense. "Journey to the Kingdom of Past Simple Tense"

To be in the past tense

The conjugation of the verb to be in the past tense has two forms:

— For the singular — Was [wɒz] with pronouns — I, he, she, it

— Past simple from the verb to be in the plural: — Were [wɜ(r)] for pronouns — we, you, they

You will understand everything faster if you read a few examples.

Examples with the verb to be in the past simple:

1. I was fond of sport - I was fond of sports. 2. We had to read it some times, because it was difficult - We had to read it several times because it was difficult. 3. Elvis Presley was American – Elvis Presley was an American. 4. They were at the hotel yesterday - Yesterday they were at the hotel. 5. When I was 5 I was afraid of the dentist – When I was 5, I was afraid of the dentist. 6. She wasn't at home last night, was she? – She wasn't at home last night, was she? 7. The ice-cream wasn't expensive - The ice cream was inexpensive. 8. She was at the supermarket yesterday evening, but I wasn’t - Yesterday evening she was at the supermarket, but I wasn’t. 9. We were at the post-office yesterday morning, but you weren’t - We were at the post office yesterday morning, but you weren’t there. 10. By the way, where were your sisters that day? - By the way, where were your sisters that day?

As you can see from the examples, the conjugation to be past simple is very easy to remember. It has only two forms, which makes learning easier.

Past Simple: rules of education

The only part of speech that can be changed when forming the past tense are verbs, which can be regular or irregular.

Regular verb or Regular verb in the past tense is formed by adding the ending -ed to it.

Everything is quite simple, but it is worth considering two features:

Appending ending

• If a verb ends in a vowel -e, which is usually never pronounced in words, that vowel is omitted.

• If a verb ends in the letter -y and is preceded by a vowel, then the ending is added according to the standard rule without any changes. However, if the -y is preceded by a consonant, the -y is replaced with -i.

• If the verb ends in a consonant -l, it is doubled.

• If a verb ends in a consonant and consists of two or more syllables where the stress is on the last one, the consonant is doubled.

• If a one-syllable verb ends in a consonant preceded by a short vowel, that consonant is doubled.

The exception is verbs ending in -w and -x:

All these features are called spelling rules. Knowing them is necessary to avoid mistakes.

Pronunciation of the ending

• The ending is pronounced [d] after voiced consonants, with the exception of the letter d, and after vowels.

• The ending is pronounced [t] after voiceless consonants, with the exception of the letter t.

• After the consonants d and t, the ending is pronounced [ɪd].

Sentence forms of the verb To be in the past tense

Let's move on to constructing sentences of all three forms: Affirmative, Negative and Interrogative. We have provided you with tables of the verb to be in the past tense, in which you will find rules and examples of to be past simple.

The affirmative form of the verb to be in the past simple

We have already talked about how affirmative sentences are constructed in the article “to be” in the present tense. In the past form, the verb “to be” is constructed in exactly the same way, you just need to choose the appropriate form was or were depending on the person.

The verb can be preceded by WH- Question word (Why, Who, What, Where etc.), that is, a question word.

This type of question is called a special question.

Example:

-Are you hungry? Yes, I was. - Were you hungry? Yes. - Why were you hungry? Because I didn't buy food - Why were you hungry? Because I didn't buy food.

Negative form of the verb to be in the past simple

The negation of To Be can be made by adding the particle not after the forms was or were . In colloquial speech, the abbreviated forms weren't [wɔznt] and weren't [wɜːnt] are often, and indeed often, constantly used:

- They were all very happy - They were all happy. - My brothers, my sisters and I weren't at the exhibition - My brothers, sisters and I were not at the exhibition.

Interrogative form of the verb to be in the past simple

To use the past simple verb to be, put to be before the subject.

English lesson notes, grade 3 “Past Simple”

date

: 31.01.2017

Class:

3 "B"

Subject:

"Past Simple"

Type of technology:

activity method technology

Lesson type:

generalization lesson

The purpose of the lesson

: consolidation of grammatical skills on the covered topic

Tasks:

Educational:

1. To update students’ knowledge of affirmative, negative, interrogative structures of the past simple tense in education.

2. Organize individual, male, and group work for students.

3. Record knowledge on the topic being studied through a system of exercises.

Educational:

1. Train students’ ability to reflect on their own activities.

2. Develop self-assessment skills.

Educational:

1. Maintain students’ interest in the topic “Past simple tense”.

2. Contribute to the development of the ability to work in groups and in pairs.

Short answers with to be in the past form

In order not to constantly repeat ourselves, we came up with short answers that can be answered briefly and clearly. We display the short answer rule in the table. Read carefully several times.

Remember, we do not shorten the pronoun with the verb in affirmative short answers.

Having dealt with the previous rule, let's move on to the next section and look at when the verb to be is used in the past form.

Was/were used

You already know the two forms of the verb to be in the past simple, and how the verb to be in the past simple is conjugated. In order to fully understand the rule, let’s look again at how it transforms from the present to the past.

• 1. Was/were are past forms of am/is/are. Present tense: am/is = past: was . Present form: are = past form: were .

Example:

— Scott and I are at home => Scott and I were at home. (are => were) — Is she excited about the trip? => Was she excited about the trip? (is => was)

• 2. We use was/were when talking about the past. The following phrases are often used: yesterday, last night, last week, two months ago, etc.

Example:

- Yesterday we were late for the concert - Yesterday we were late for the concert. — Were they at the beach last Friday ? – Were they on the beach last Friday?

• 3. We use was/were with the expression was/were born . The expression be born is always in the past form.

Example:

- She was born in London in 1976 - She was born in London in 1976. —Where were you born? I was born in Norway – Where were you born? I was born in Norway.

The video uses 2 forms of the verb to be in past simple, watch it several times and then say the dialogue.