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Simple Past Tense #2, by Dennis Oliver
Simple Past
Tense #2
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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.)
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The Simple
Past: Regular Verbs
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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: |
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baked, cared,
eased, filed,
greased,
hated, liked, piled, raced, seized,
smiled, typed, wheezed,
whined |
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Change y
to
i and
add -ed: |
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apply / applied;
bury / buried;
cry / cried;
fry / fried;
hurry / hurried;
marry / married;
pry / pried;
spy / spied
try / tried
vary / varied
worry / worried |
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| Add -ed: |
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other regular verbs:
asked,
belonged, clapped,
dialed, filled,
guessed,
hopped, looked, marked,
needed, pulled, reached,
started,
touched, viewed,
washed, yelled, zipped
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Special Notes:
| 1. |
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Add only -
d if a regular
verb ends in one or more
vowels, a single consonant (except
x), and e.
See
the examples above. |
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| 2. |
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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
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| 3. |
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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.
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| 4. |
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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
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| 5. |
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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
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| 6. |
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If a regular verb ends in
x, add only - ed. Do not
double the x:
box / boxed; fax / faxed; mix / mixed;
tax / taxed
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| 7. |
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Regular
verbs ending in other spelling patterns usually
add -ed. |
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Next: more on simple
past tense
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