Past Simple and Past Perfect Tense

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru/

1. General survey of Past Simple and Past Perfect

1.1 The Past Indefinite Tense (Past Simple)

We use the simple past tense:

* to describe an action that occurred in the past or at a specified time or the time is easily understood or already implied.

Example: We finished our final exam an hour ago. (NOT: We have/had finished our final exam an hour ago.)

Example: My grandfather played for the Yellow Hornless Bull football team.

Example: I ate a big spicy piece of pizza for my breakfast.

* for an action that began and ended in the past.

Example: The dangerous criminal was recaptured after three months on the run.

* to refer to an action completed regardless of how recent or distant in the past.

Example: Alexander Bell invented the telephone in 1876.

Example: My brother joined the circus as a clown last week.

* for an action done repeatedly, habitually or at regular times in the past.

Example: We saw the movie 'Titanic' several times at the cinema.

Example: Brian was always a heavy drinker in the old days.

Example: He phoned his mother every Sunday until her death.

* for a state in the past.

Example: I felt very tired after a couple of games of tennis.

* for a short event or action that comes or follows one after the other.

Example: We looked left and we looked right. Then we crossed the road.

* to place emphasis on what we say, especially in response to some remark.

Example: «You didn't seem to help much.» «I did help to clear the room of all the unwanted things.»

* to talk about someone who has died.

Example: Arthur was a highly respected science-fiction writer.

Example: He left all his money to charity.

* in providing details or information about events that happened subsequent to news reports which, when first reported, are usually expressed in present perfect tense.

Example: Negotiations with the insurgent forces have broken down. The leader of the insurgent forces blamed the government for the break down. A government spokesman said the insurgent forces made unreasonable demands.

You will often find the past simple used with time expressions such as these:

* Yesterday

* three weeks ago

* last year

* in 2002

* from March to June

* for a long time

* for 6 weeks

* in the 1980s

* in the last century

* in the past

Regular and irregular verbs

* We form the simple past tense of most verbs by adding - edto the verb. These verbs are called regular verbs. Most verbs are regular verbs.

* The simple past tense of some verbs does not end in - ed. These verbs are the irregular verbs.

* The simple past tense irregular verbs can only be used in the positive, not negative.

For example: He kept all his money in the bank. (NOT: He did not kept all his money in the bank.)

* Examples of regular verbs:

Simple Past

add - added, hand - handed, join - joined, show - showed, talk - talked

* There are many irregular verbs. Examples of irregular verbs are:

Simple Past

Bite - bit, catch - caught, go - went, see - saw, steal - stole, teach - taught

* The simple past tense of some irregular verbs does not change at all.

Past simple

beat - beat, cut - cut, hurt - hurt, put - put, shut - shut

Regular verbs and irregular verbs as expressed in the affirmative and negative.

Regular verbs:

Affirmative - He cycled to work.

Negative - He did not cycle to work. (NOT: He did not cycled to work.)

Irregular verbs

Affirmative - He stole her purse.

Negative - He did not steal her purse. (NOT: He did not stole her purse.)

Note that was and were are forms of the verb be. Was is the simple past tense of am and is and is used with the pronouns I, he, she and it, and with singular nouns. Were is the simple past tense of are and is used with the pronouns you, we and they, and with plural nouns.

Regular verbs in simple past tense forms:

Most verbs when expressed in the simple past tense are formed by adding - ed to the end of the verbs. These verbs are called regular verbs. Examples: kiss - kissed; touch - touched.

* If a verb ends with - e, only - d is added to change its tense to past simple. Example: live - lived

* If a verb ends in - ie, add - d. Examples: lie - lied; belie - belied

* If a verb ends in:

a vowel + - y, just add - ed. Examples: employ - employed; buoy - buoyed

a consonant + - y, change the y to i and then add - ed. Examples: cry - cried; pry - pried.

one vowel + one consonant and is a one-syllable verb, double the consonant and add - ed. Example: step - stepped; chop - chopped; can - canned

one vowel + one consonant, double the consonant only if the second syllable of a two-syllable verb is stressed (e.g., preFER - preferred) but not if the first syllable of a two-syllable verb is stressed (e.g., WONder - wondered)

two consonants, just add - ed. Examples: pull - pulled; scold - scolded

two vowels + one consonant, don't double the consonant, add - ed. Examples: peep - peeped; leak - leaked; raid - raided

«Used to»

We use the expression used to to refer to a past habit or situation that no longer exists. We use the infinitive without to after 'used to.'

Example: I used to chase butterflies, but now I don't see any butterfly around.

(NOT: I used to to chase butterflies,….)

She used to be scared of spiders, but now she keeps a pet spider.

Did you used/use to live in a houseboat?

Professor Crabby is never used to people arguing with him.

The passive form

We use the passive form of the simple past tense when the action is done to the subject. It is formed by using was/were + past participle.

* Often the doer of the action is not mentioned or known.

Example: Last night the police station was broken into.

* Sometimes we use the preposition 'by' to mention the person or thing that did the action.

Example: That old mighty tree was once struck by lightning.

* When the same subject is used with two passive verbs, we leave out the pronoun and the verb in the second part of the sentence.

Example: The pickpocket was beaten up and then handed over to the police. (We leave out 'he was' between 'then' and 'handed'.)

The simple past tense and the past continuous tense

* We use the simple past tense to show a complete action and the past continuous tense to show an action in progress.

Example: Last night I stepped on a snake and it bit my leg. (simple past - complete actions)

Example: At eleven o'clock last night, I was looking for my car key. (past continuous - action in progress)

* We use the simple past and past continuous tenses together to indicate an action happened while another was in progress.

Example: I was running away from a dog when I knocked an old lady to the ground. (past continuous and simple past tenses - knocked an old lady in the middle of running away.)

1.2 The past perfect Tense

The Past Perfect Tense is used:

1. to show an action happened in the past before another event took place.

* Words usually used with the Past Perfect tense are when and after.

Example: They had already finished their dinner when I arrived to join them.

Example: When he had done his homework, he went for a smoke in the park.

Example: After I had eaten five apples, I felt ill.

Example: I arrived at the cinema after the film had started.

In each of the above examples there are two past actions. The past perfect tense is combined with a past simple tense to show which of the two actions happened earlier.

The event in the past perfect tense occurred before the event in the simple past tense.

* Words such as already, just and as soon as are also used with the Past Perfect tense.

Example: It had already stopped raining when I bought an umbrella.

Example: The whole house had just burnt down when the firemen got there.

Example: As soon as she had got married, she regretted it.

2. for an action which happened before a definite time in the past.

Example: They had finished their prayers by ten o'clock.

3. for an action which took place and completed in the past.

Example: He had hurt his back in an accident at work and he had to stay at home for three months.

(The action happened and he suffered the consequences all in the past)

4. for states.

Example: They had become good friends for many years after meeting on holiday.

When two actions were completed in the past, use a past perfect tense to clarify which event happened earlier.

a) INCORRECT: The museum occupied the building where the art gallery was.

b) CORRECT: The museum occupied the building where the art gallery had been.

c) INCORRECT: The list of movies you showed me, I saw before.

d) CORRECT: The list of movies you showed me, I had seen before.

In (a), the use of two simple past tenses (occupied; was) imply the museum and the art gallery occupied the same building at the same time, which was not the case. In (b), the use of the perfect tense (had been) sorts out the order of occupation of the building.

In (c), 'I saw before' clearly indicates it happened before the list was showed to me, and so should be in the past perfect tense as in (d).

Sometimes the past perfect tense and the past simple tense are used separately in different sentences.

Example: This morning we visited John in the hospital. He had just been admitted with stomach pains.

The past simple tense precedes the past perfect tense. Notice the action in the past perfect tense happened first.

Before and after

As mentioned above, the event expressed in the past perfect tense occurred earlier than the event in the past simple tense. However, when before or after is used in a sentence, the past perfect tense becomes unnecessary as the two words - before or after - already clarify which action takes place first. We can use the simple past tense instead. Look at these examples.

a) After she had read the letter, she tore it into pieces.

b) After she read the letter, she tore it into pieces.

c) We had left the stadium before the match ended.

d) We left the stadium before the match ended.

Changing the past perfect tense to past simple tense does not affect the meaning of the sentences as (a) and (b) have the same meaning, and (c) and (d) have the same meaning.

The past perfect tense and the present perfect tense

The salad bowl was empty. I had eaten the salad.

The salad bowl is empty. I have eaten the salad.

We were tired. We had just had a long walk.

We are tired. We have just had a long walk.

Grandma was limping. She had fallen down a drain.

Grandma is limping. She has fallen down a drain.

The past perfect tense and the simple past tense - how they are used

* George is the captain of his football team. He started playing football when he was 9 years old. He became the best striker in the country when he was only seventeen.

* George was the captain of his football team. He had started playing football when he was 9 years old. He had become the best striker in the country when he was only seventeen.

Indirect speech

The Past Perfect Tense is often used in Reported or Indirect Speech. It is used in place of the verb in the:

1. present perfect tense in the direct speech:

Direct speech: He said, «I have lost my puppy.»

Indirect speech: He said he had lost his puppy.

2. simple past tense in the direct speech:

Direct speech: She said, «I made the biggest birthday cake in town.»

Indirect speech: She said she had made the biggest birthday cake in town

Past perfect tense used after 'if', 'if only' and 'wish'

The past perfect tense is used to express an impossible condition as it refers to something which did or did not happen in the past.

Example: I would have bought two if I had brought enough money.

Example: If only he had shut up at the meeting.

Example: I wish you had bought one for me.

Example: They wish they had not seen that scary movie.

Past perfect tense used after certain expressions

Past perfect tense is often used after the following expressions in bold:

I knew (that) his brother had gone to work overseas.

I didn't know (that) he had stopped smoking.

I thought (that) we had got on the wrong train.

I was sure (that) their birds had eaten my bananas.

I wasn't sure (that) the snake had bitten him.

Passive form of past perfect tense

We put been in front of the past participle in the active form to make the passive form.

The passive form is used to show that something was done to the subject and not by the subject.

Example: He said he had been chased by a rhinoceros.

Example: I did not know that I had been invited to her wedding.

The simple past tense and the past perfect tense

* When the simple past and past perfect tenses are used together in a sentence, the past perfect tense is used for something that happened earlier.

Example: He filled the case with cartons of orange juice. (Only one action; a simple past tense is used.) After he had filled the case with cartons of orange juice, he loaded it into the van.

(Both past perfect and simple past tenses are used. The action that happened earlier is expressed in the past perfect tense - had filled.)

* Note the usage:

a) When I arrived, the pet show started.

b) When I arrived, the pet show had started.

c) I arrived before he delivered the opening address.

d) I arrived before he had delivered the opening address.

e) Nobody asked any question until he explained the procedure.

f) Nobody asked any question until he had explained the procedure.

In (a), the meaning is the same as: I arrived just in time for the show.

In (b), the meaning is the same as: I missed the initial part of the show.

(c) and (d): there is no difference in meaning.

(e) and (f): there is no difference in meaning.

* When one action followed another, the past perfect tense is not used. The simple past tense is used for both events.

Example: When Jack saw Jill, he waved to her. (NOT: When Jack had seen Jill, he waved to her.)

While teaching these tenses it's better to illustrate the actions expressed by these tenses. Students will easily remember their usage

Usage of Past Simple and Past perfect in the English language

1. Use 1 Completed action in the past

Eg: Last year, I traveled to Japan.

Last year, I didn't travel to Korea.

2. Use 2 A series of completed actions

Eg: I finished work, walked to the beach, and found a nice place to swim.

He arrived from the airport at 8:00, checked into the hotel at 9:00, and met

the others at 10:00.

3. Use 3Duration in the past

Eg: Shauna studied Japanese for five years.

They did not stay at the party the entire time.

4. Use 4 Habits in the past

Eg: I studied French when I was a child.

She worked at the movie theater after school.

They never went to school, they always skipped class.

5. Use 5 Past facts or generalizations

Eg: She was shy as a child, but now she is very outgoing.

He didn't like tomatoes before.

Usage of Past Perfect

Eg: She has arrived before we left.

Past simple - common mistakes

Common mistakes	Correct version	Why?
I was work in London.	I worked in London	In positive sentences, a auxiliary verb such as 'was' or 'did' is not used.
He worked in London?	Did he work in London?	The helping verb 'did' is used in past simple questions.
Worked he in London?	Did he work in London?	The helping verb 'did' is used in past simple questions.
Did he wrote a letter?	Did he write a letter?	The main verb is used in the infinitive form in questions and negatives.
He didn't wrote a letter.	He didn't write a letter.	The main verb is used in the infinitive form in questions and negatives.

Past perfect simple - common mistakes

Common mistakes	Correct version	Why?
I didn't been to London.	I hadn't been to London.	The helping verb had (negative - hadn't) is used in the past perfect.
When I saw him, I noticed that he had a haircut.	When I saw him I noticed that he had had a haircut.	The action (haircut) which happened before another past action must be put into the past perfect to make the time order clear to the listener.
He told me has been to London.	He told me he had been to London.	His original words were: «I have been to London.'' However, in reported speech we move the tense back - the present perfect (have been) becomes past perfect (had been).

1.3 Summary of the difference between past (simple) tense and past perfect tense

· The present perfect is used when the time period has NOT finished: I have seen three movies this week.

(This week has not finished yet.)

· The simple past is used when the time period HAS finished: I saw three movies last week.

(Last week has finished.)

· The present perfect is often used when giving recent news: Martin has crashed his car again.

(This is new information.)

· The simple past is used when giving older information: Martin crashed his car last year.

(This is old information.)

· The present perfect is used when the time is not specific: I have seen that movie already.

(We don't know when.)

· The simple past is used when the time is clear: I saw that movie on Thursday.

(We know exactly when.)

· The present perfect is used with for and since, when the actions have not finished yet: I have lived in Victoria for five years.

(I still live in Victoria.)

· The simple past is used with for and since, when the actions have already finished: I lived in Victoria for five years.

(I don't live in Victoria now.)

2. Teaching Past Simple and Past Perfect through games

2.1 Fun practice or games for the Past Simple

Storytelling

We often use present tenses and other past tenses such as Past Continuous to give our anecdotes a bit of colour, but it is perfectly possible to construct a simple linear story with just the Simple Past. Perhaps the easiest way to prompt storytelling is to give groups of students a set of cards to make a story from, with each card being a word, phrase or picture. To practise the regular and/or irregular verb forms, those cards could be verbs in the infinitive.

Anecdotes

The most common thing to tell stories about is yourself. As people like talking about themselves, anything on anecdotes tends to work well. The challenge is to give the person listening a reason to do so. Things they could do while listening include working out which anecdotes aren't true, asking as many questions as they can when the anecdote is finished, and interrupting the anecdote as much as they can to ask questions. You can add intensive practice of particular verbs by giving them ones they have to include in their stories, especially if they are allowed to make some of the stories up.

Video tasks for Simple Past

The obvious way of using a video for past tenses might seem to simply describe what happened, but in fact this is difficult to do without using Past Perfect and Past Continuous. One more controlled way of using a video is to give them a list of verbs and ask them to put up their hands when they think they can use one to describe what just happened. Another one is to give them pairs of actions and ask them to predict the order, e.g. «Mr. Bean bought some balloons and then snatched a bow and arrow», then watch and check. Alternatively, you could ask them to make any true sentences about what just happened in the video that they can, but only using irregular verbs, verbs with a particular vowel sound, or verbs with a particular pronunciation of the - ed ending.

What did the teacher do then?

You can do something similar to the video tasks above by doing a string of actions and asking the students to say or write all the things you did. This has most impact if you don't tell them what you are going to do but simply start the lesson in an unusual way such as turning round twice and kicking the bin. Do about ten more strange actions and then walk out the door. When you come back in, ask them to say or write all the things you did. They could then work in groups to write down sequences of strange actions to do and test other groups with in the same way that you just did. As the ultimate challenge, they could all do their lists of actions at the same time and the people watching could also try to remember who did what action.

Who did what?

This is similar to the last idea above. Students are given some cards with verbs or whole actions on (e.g. «Jump» or «Jump next to the teacher's desk twice»). Several students stand up and do their actions at the same time, and the people sitting down have to say or write down who did what, plus in what order if each student had more than one card.

Guess my life

Students can also do something similar with actions that they did outside the classroom. In one version, students say an action they did yesterday or this morning and the other students try to make true sentences including the time, e.g. «You brushed your teeth at 7:30». The person whose action it is gives hints like «No, much later» until their partners get it exactly right. You can also do it the other way round by one student giving the time and the others trying to guess what they did at that time. You can also do similar things with months and years, e.g. «You lived in England in 2000».

Another possibility is to tell the story of someone's day or life in order. In groups of three or four, one person has his or her story told and corrects the other people if they say something which isn't true. One person says «You got up» and the next person continues with anything that happened soon (but not necessarily just) after that, e.g. «You made a cup of coffee». They can continue that way through the whole day or stop whenever someone makes a mistake and switch roles.

Fun drilling

As well as the communicative ideas above, it is well worth spending some time on drilling the forms and pronunciation of the Simple Past. The easiest way is to give them tables of irregular verbs and ask them to test each other in pairs. A more fast-paced drilling game is Past Forms Tennis, where the person serving does so with an infinitive and the person returning must do so with the correct past form. With young learners you can even do this with a real beach ball, making it more like Past Forms Volleyball.

An even more intensive game is Grammar Reversi. Prepare cards with the infinitive on one side and the past on the other. Students have to guess the form on the other side to be able to turn the card over and continue their turn, either to play a whole game of Othello (as in the original game in the book Grammar Games) or just to work their way along the entire length of a set of these cards that have been put on the table in a row.

A more physically active game for the same language is Stations. Students must react in one of two ways depending on what they hear, e.g. raise their right hands if they hear a word whose past tense ends with /t/ or run and touch the right hand wall if they hear or see a word whose past form has a the same vowel sound as «more».

2.2 15 fun games with Past Perfect

1. Fairytale dominoes

This is a game from Intermediate Communication Games that can easily be played without access to the book. Students continue a story by choosing from pictures that they have spread out on the table in front of them, continuing until they bring the story to a conclusion with the very last picture. To make the use of Past Perfect higher, allow them to add pictures to earlier in the story with phrases like «By the time he arrived back at the castle, the witch had already kidnapped the princess». You can play the same game with other kinds of story such as murders and spy stories (crime vocabulary), science fiction or love stories. If you can't find suitable pictures, students can play the same game with relevant words on cut up pieces of paper.

2. Alibi game

Half the class are suspects for the murder of someone in the school, and the other half are their alibis. In pairs, they have to create the stories of what they were doing elsewhere at the time of the murder. They are then questioned separately, and the pair with the most differences between their stories are the guilty ones. This is one of the all time classic TEFL games and gets students who are usually shy or uninvolved speaking much more than usual.

3. Business English alibi game

With some careful preparation, the concept of the alibi game can be extended into other fields such as Business English. Prepare slips of paper with typical business daily tasks such as «send a fax». Students set them out to make an imaginary business day and then try to memorize their own day. Another student then tests them on the order of the events with questions like «Had you already finished lunch when you started gossiping?» or «How many things had you achieved before the meeting with your boss started?» You can also add the Past Continuous by allowing them to place some of the slips of paper vertically to represent things that lasted a longer time during which other things happened (slips of paper placed next to them horizontally).

4. Past Perfect Kim's Game

Another game that can be played with the same pieces of paper as the Business English Alibi game above is for one student to move around the pieces of paper showing the sequence of events in the day and for the other person to spot and explain the changes, e.g. «Now it says I had already polished my shoes when I put them on, but actually I put my shoes on and then polished them».

5. Guess what order

A personalized version of the Business English Alibi Game above is for students to guess the order of their partner's actions yesterday or at the weekend. One student says two things they did and their partner has to make a true sentence, keeping the same order in the sentence as they were said in, e.g. «When you had a shower, you had already finished breakfast» or «You had a shower and then you had breakfast». This activity can also be used to contrast the Past Perfect and Past Continuous.

6. Guess the sequence

An longer version of Guess The Order above that has more vocabulary in it is for students to show their partner a mixed up list of 10 things they did yesterday or at the weekend and for their partner to put them in order using questions like «Had you already left the office when you phoned your wife?»

7. Yesterday's schedule spot the differences

Give them schedules with differences of order of the events to ask and answer questions about such as «How many times had you studied maths by the end of school on Thursday?»

8. Texts spot the difference

This is similar to Yesterday's Schedule Spot the Difference, but involves reading and therefore maybe more useful language input. Give them two texts that have the same events in a different order, e.g. texts of what people said during alibi interrogation. This can be used as the lead in to the Alibi Game above.

9. Guess what happened next

A student says the Past Perfect part of a true sentence about themselves and their partner tries to guess the true Simple Past part, e.g. «I had been sacked» «You had been sacked from your previous job when you entered this company?» «Wrong! That was from the job before last»

10. Sentence completion guessing game

Give students ten to twenty sentence stems that you know that most people can complete almost all of in some way, e.g. «When I joined this class…» or «I had never felt more excited before in my life when…» Tell them to complete at least half the sentences. They then read out only the part they have written and their partners guess which sentence it is a completion of, e.g. «I had already worked in twenty three places» «When you started in your present company?» «No. Try again.» «By the time you started university?» «That's right!» «Wow! How come?»

11. Your partner's day backwards (the Memento game)

Starting when their partner went to bed, students see how many true sentences they can make about things they did before that, working backwards slowly, e.g. «When you went to bed, you had already brushed your teeth» «That's right» «When you brushed your teeth, you had already had a shower» «Wrong! I had a shower after I cleaned my teeth. My turn.»

12. Who had been busier competition

Choose a time of day yesterday and students try to prove they had been busier or more productive up to then than their partner, e.g. «By 6 pm yesterday, I had typed 20 A4 pages» «That's nothing. By 6pm yesterday I had made 20 phone calls» «Really? I still think typing is more difficult though…»

13. Past participle pron SNAP/ pellmanism

Doing the Past Perfect is a good opportunity to spend some time on the pronunciation of the Past Participle. One way of improving their pronunciation while actually making the process seem simpler rather than more complicated is get them to match up past participles like «bought» and «caught» by their vowel sound (students often overcomplicate things by trying to make sounds that don't exist in English to show distinctions in spelling when in fact the pronunciation is exactly the same). This will also help them learn the forms so that they can produce them automatically and so can concentrate on using Past Perfect in the right situations.

14. Vowel sound brainstorm

Another way of practicing the vowel sounds of the Past Participle is to get students to race to write as many as they can with a particular vowel sound within the (2 to 5 minute) time limit. After going through their answers, you can get them to repeat the process, but this time writing sentences with those past participles out in full.

15. I've been had!

Another difficulty associated with the pronunciation of the Past Perfect is using «'d» (because using the whole word «had» can seem too emphatic, as if you are contradicting someone) and spotting the difference between «'d» = had and «'d» = would in context. Students listen to sentences including «had» (because it is a short answer or a contradiction), «'d = would» or «'d = had» and only react when they hear the third of those forms, for example by racing to put their hands up as quickly as possible or slapping their card on their table before their partner does.

2.3 Tests for Past Simple and Past Perfect

1. William … in Boston for six years before him…to New York. (Live, move)

2. The blue car … the street after the lights …red. (Cross, turn)

3. When James… to ring us, we already… the house. (Try, leave)

4. After Joanna …her presentation, we …our questions. (Finish, ask)

5. On her first day at the driving school, we …very nervous because we …a car before. (Be, not drive)

6. It …a cold and rainy Sunday, so I …to finish the essay that I … writing a few days before. (Be, decide, start)

7. I …on the computer and …the document. (Switch, open)

8. Then I …looking for my notes that I …on a sheet of paper. (Begin, handwrite)

9. But the notes …not on my desk and I …not remember where I …them. (Be, can, put)

10. I… the whole house upside down. (turn)

11. And where I … my notes? (find)

12. I …them in the sitting room, under a huge staple of papers and magazines. (Leave)

13. Now that I …my notes, I …to continue writing my essay. (Find, want)

14. First I …what to write but then I …lots of ideas. (not know, have)

15. I almost … my essay when my computer suddenly …and I …that I …to save the document. (Complete, crash, notice, forget)

16. After I …my computer, I …that at least 5 of the pages I …were missing. (Reboot, see, type)

17. So I …to start all over again. (Have)

18. When I …at school, the lesson already…. (arrive, start)

19. I …to New York last month. I never… to the USA before. (go, be)

20. Bob …us into his room because he …it for weeks. (Not let, not clean)

21. I …very hungry because I …anything yet. (feel, not eat)

22. As Vanessa …the film before, she …to go to the cinema with us. (See, not want)

23. We …away the flowers that we …. (Give, pick)

24. Wendy …the letter that she…. (Send, write)

25. The gardener …the trees that he…. (Water, plant)

26. I …into the taxi that my friend …for me. (Get, call)

27. She …to wear the jumper that her mum just…. (Want, wash)

28. Yesterday a boy …the snowman that we…. (Destroy, build)

29. Jimmy …us about the film that he …. (Tell, see)

30. We …the mobile phone that Marwin…. (Find, lose)

Conclusion

Having studied the usage of Past Simple and Past Perfect I can say for sure that I was successful to reach the aims put forward in the introductory part of my work. I compared the usage of two tenses and gave them in illustrations to ease the task. As a future teacher I know that learners acquire the language better presented in illustrations or other ways of nontraditional methods. Signal words of adverbs that are usually used with these tenses are also given. Chapter I end with the summary of comparison of two tenses.

* The simple past is used when the time period HAS finished: I saw three movies last week. (Last week has finished.)

* The simple past is used when giving older information: Martin crashed his car last year. (This is old information.)

* The simple past is used when the time is clear: I saw that movie on Thursday. (We know exactly when.)

* The present perfect is used with for and since, when the actions have not finished yet: I have lived in Victoria for five years. (I still live in Victoria.)

* The simple past is used with for and since, when the actions have already finished: I lived in Victoria for five years. (I don't live in Victoria now.)

* When the simple past and past perfect tenses are used together in a sentence, the past perfect tense is used for something that happened earlier.

Example: He filled the case with cartons of orange juice. (Only one action; a simple past tense is used.) After he had filled the case with cartons of orange juice, he loaded it into the van. (Both past perfect and simple past tenses are used. The action that happened earlier is expressed in the past perfect tense - had filled.) a) When I arrived, the pet show started.b) When I arrived, the pet show had started.

Chapter II is of practical character where I stated the tips for teachers how to present and practice Past Simple and Past Perfect through games. Fun practice activities are given to make Grammar classes more interesting, have learners motivated. The problems of learning and remembering irregular verb forms can be easily solved with the help of those activities. I tried to use them in my classes during my teaching experience at school and I am strongly convinced that they really work well. Test for usage of Past Simple and Past Perfect are provided in the end of the work. I hope that my work will be useful for those who really want to make progress in English, being clearly aware of the differences of these tenses.

russian kyrgyz past perfect

Bibliography

1. Blokh M.Y. «A Course in English Theoretical Grammar».

2. Bloomfield L. «Language», London 1935, p. 210

3. Haris Z. «Methods in Structural Linguistics», Chicago, 1952, p. 163

4. Jerry Jill, Sammy Lovejoy, It's Not That Hard (An experience of English grammar). 1989

5. Ilyish B.A The Structure of Modern English, 1971

6. Morokhovskaya.E. Fundamentals of Theoretical Grammar.

7. Rayevskaya.L. Modern English Grammar, 1976

8. Raymond Murphy, English Grammar in Use. A Self-Study Reference and Practice Book for Intermediate Students. With Answers.

9. Volkova L.M. Theoretical English Grammar, K 2004

10. Беляева М.А., Грамматика английского языка. 1984

11. Иванова И.П., Бурлакова В.В., Почепцов Г.Г., Теоретическая грамматика английского языка. 1981

Размещено на Allbest.ru