Past Tense Verbs:

1. Past Tense Verbs: Stayingon Top of the System!

2. (1) REGULAR Infinitive: to WALK Past tense: WALKED (no helping verb used) Past participle: WALKED (always with helping verb) (2) IRREGULAR Infinitive: to FLY Past tense: FLEW (no helping verb used) Past participle: FLOWN (always with helping verb) English has only two kinds of verbs, each with the same three main parts.

3. Every verb tense in English is formed from these three principal parts. • I love you. • I will love you always. • I loved you in the past, but at the time you didn’t love me. • I had loved you long before you spoke to me in our writing class. • I wanted you to love me for myself, not for my ability to correct comma splices.

4. What’s the difference between a regular and an irregular verb? • A regular verb never changes the main verb itself; it just adds a d or an ed when describing past actions: • dance—danced talk—talked • Irregular verbs are unpredictable. When describing past actions, they might (1) stay the same, (2) change just a part of the word, or (3) change the whole word: • cut— cut grow—grew think— thought

5. Regular past tense verbs: Tip #1 • Remember to add the d or ed endings to mark the past, especially those endings that we don’t hear clearly! • Every day, I walk to work. • Yesterday, I walked to work. • For weeks now, I have walked to work. • Every night, we dance till dawn. • Last night, we dancedtill dawn. • On many nights, we have danced till dawn.

6. REGULAR past tense verbs: Tip #2 • Be extra careful when the word “to” follows a past tense verb; it’s easy to forget the verb ending because we don’t hear it. • Grammar use to be easy. • This is suppose to be fun. d d

7. Regular past tense verbs:Tip #3 • Remember to use the “changey to i when you add –ed ” rule!

8. Irregular past tense verbs:Tip #1 • Some verbs stay the same in the present and the past. Don’t be tempted to add an ending.

9. Irregular past tense verbs: Tip #2 • The past tense of “TO BE” has both a singular and a plural form. Watch the subject/verb agreement.

10. What About Other Tenses? All other past-tense verbs are formed from the past participle and some kind of a helping verb like has/ have/ had/is/ was/ were: • He has asked the $64,000 question. • The case was decided in their favor. • She had written a prize-winning essay. • You have been selected to enter the Publishers Clearinghouse sweepstakes!

11. Past participles of regular verbs end in d or ed, just as the past tense verb does.

12. Unfortunately, the past participles of irregular verbs are as unpredictable as the past tense is. begun gone seen become chosen forgotten given cut led done

13. And just to make things really confusing, there’s always…

14. Warning: Potential Trouble Spot! • Past participles are often used as adjectives, to describe other words. Remember the –ed ending! • What is the prescribe solution? ( = the solution which someone has prescribed) • You seem shock . ( = something has shocked you) d ed

15. Try some out! Are there any missing endings below? d • She appears to be a very prejudice person. • My critical thinking teacher was astonish that I finished the quiz so early. • I think everything is finally settle to everyone’s satisfaction. ed d

16. began: past tense begun: past participle gave: past tense given: past participle Warning: Potential Trouble Spot #2! • Don’t confuse the past tense of the irregular verbs (no helping verb) with the past participle (with helping verb). • I begun my homework early this week. • He had gave me his address. X X

17. Warning: Potential Trouble Spot #3! • Watch the passive verbs (= a combination of is, are, was, were, be, been, or being plus the past participle). Be sure to use the participle form. • My heart isbroken. (notis broke) • The course waswelldesigned. (notwaswell design) • The report will soon be written. (notwill soon bewrote).

18. And that’s all there is to it! Verbs are easy, when you understand the system!