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In English, the simple past
tense is used for finished actions
or situations
that began and ended before now.
There are
three ways to make simple past tense.
In order to show when an action or situation happened
in the past,
particular words and phrases (time adverbials)
are often
used. Here are some of the most common ones:
| 1. |
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yesterday
This refers to the day before
today, but not at
any specific time.
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| 2. |
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last _____
This time adverbial is similar
to yesterday, but it
can be used
with many different time references:
last night
last week
last month
last year
last Tuesday
last summer
etc.
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| 3. |
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a / an /
one _____ ago
A singular noun phrase showing
a period of time
follows a,
an, or one:
a / one minute ago
an / one hour ago
a / one week
ago
a / one week ago
a / one month
ago
a / one year ago
etc.
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| 4. |
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(plural number or
expression)
_____ ago
A plural noun phrase showing
a period of time
is used before ago:
two minutes ago
three hours ago
several days ago
a few weeks
ago
a number of months ago
many years ago
etc.
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| 5. |
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the day before yesterday
This time adverbial has the
same meaning as
two days ago.
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| 6. |
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the _____ before last
This common time adverbial
is similar to
the day before yesterday, but it can be
used for many
more time references:
the night before last
the week before last
the month
before last
etc.
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| 7. |
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past dates
Any time expression that refers
to a date
before now requires a past tense.
Examples:
in 1998
on June 21st
(if this date was before now)
on June 21st,
2000
during 1995
in the 19th
Century
last Christmas
etc.
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| 8. |
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past events
Any time that refers to an
event that happened
before now also requires a past
tense.
Examples:
on my last birthday
at the beginning of my class
during my
childhood
when I got up this morning
when my grandfather was a boy
etc.
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Special Notes:
| 1. |
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Any time expression that refers
to "before now"
can require past tense. If "now"
is Monday
afternoon at 2:15 PM, for example,
these time
adverbials require past tense if they
refer
to Monday:
at
2:00 PM
at
noon
this
morning |
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in
the morning
at
lunch
etc. |
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| 2. |
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"Last" is very commonly used, but not with
"day":
use yesterday,
not *last day. |
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| 3. |
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Two or more time adverbial
can be combined:
at 2:30 yesterday afternoon
late last night
early in the morning
a couple of days ago
every Thursday last summer
etc.
Note that when two or more
time adverbials are
combined, shorter periods of time come before
longer periods of time.
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