Examples

GRAMMAR
THE PAST TENSE
The Past Tense is used :
1.

To show a completed action at a certain time

Examples:
(a) I was sick yesterday.
(b) She had her dinner at 7 p.m. last Monday.
(c) We went to the cinema last night.
(d) Salimah ate nasi lemak this morning.

was is used for the

pronouns I, he, she and
it.
It is also used for any
other singular subject.
were is used for pronouns
you, we and they.
It is also used for any
other plural subject.

usually,

often, always, never, etc.

had is used for all

pronouns whether singular
or plural.

Examples :

3.

To ask questions about actions in the past.

Examples :
(a) Did you go to the supermarket yesterday?
(b) Where was your father last night?
(c) Were the boys in their classroom just now?

1. You were rude to him.

2. They were tired an hour
ago.
3. The waiters were polite.

2. She had many questions to

ask last night.
3. We had no time to help.

1. You did not tell me about

the
picnic.

month.
(c) We never took a bus home last year.

3. Chandran was surprised at

his result.

4. The brothers had a camera

last year.

(a) He usually played table tennis in my house last

(b) We often went fishing last year.

2. He was angry with me just

now.

4. The kittens were afraid of

the dog.
1. I had tea with Ali just now.

(e) They saw a tiger when they were at the zoo.

2.To show an action in the past which was a habit
or which often happened. It is usually used with

1. I was lazy last year.

did is used for both

singular and plural
subjects.

2. He did the corrections.

3. They did the washing a
minute
ago.
4. The policeman did not stop
the car.

LIST OF VERB FORMS

PARTICIPLE

PRESENT

PAST

being

been

fall

fell

falling

fallen

were

being

been

feed

fed

feeding

fed

beat

beat

beating

beaten

fight

fought

fighting

fought

become

became

becoming

become

find

found

finding

found

begin

began

beginning

begun

fly

flew

flying

flown

bite

bit

biting

bitten

forget

forgot

forgetting

forgotten

blow

blew

blowing

blown

forgive

forgave

forgiving

forgiven

break

broke

breaking

broken

get

got

getting

got

bring

brought

bringing

brought

give

gave

giving

given

build

built

building

built

go

went

going

gone

buy

bought

buying

bought

grow

grew

growing

grown

catch

caught

catching

caught

hang

hung

hanging

hung

choose

chose

choosing

chosen

hang

hanged

hanging

hung

come

came

coming

come

has / have

had

having

had

dig

dug

digging

dug

hear

heard

hearing

heard

do / does

did

doing

done

hide

hid

hiding

hidden

draw

drew

drawing

drawn

hold

held

holding

held

dream

dreamt

dreaming

dreamt

keep

kept

keeping

kept

drink

drank

drinking

drunk

know

knew

knowing

known

drive

drove

driving

driven

lay

laid

laying

laid

eat

ate

eating

eaten

leave

left

leaving

left

PRESENT

PAST

am/is

was

are

CONTINUOUS

CONTINUOUS

PARTICIPLE

PRESENT

PAST

CONTINUOUS

PARTICIPLE

PRESENT

PAST

CONTINUOUS

PARTICIPLE

lie

lay

lying

lain

sink

sank

sinking

sunk

lie

lied

lying

lied

sit

sat

sitting

sat

lose

lost

losing

lost

sleep

slept

sleeping

slept

make

made

making

made

speak

spoke

speaking

spoken

mean

meant

meaning

meant

spend

spent

spending

spent

meet

met

meeting

met

stand

stood

standing

stood

pay

paid

paying

paid

steal

stole

stealing

stolen

ride

rode

riding

ridden

sweep

swept

sweeping

swept

ring

rang

ringing

rung

swim

swam

swimming

swum

rise

rose

rising

risen

take

took

taking

taken

run

ran

running

run

teach

taught

teaching

taught

say

said

saying

said

tear

tore

tearing

torn

see

saw

seeing

seen

tell

told

telling

told

sell

sold

selling

sold

think

thought

thinking

thought

send

sent

sending

sent

throw

threw

throwing

thrown

sew

sewed

sewing

sewn

wake

woke

waking

woken

shake

shook

shaking

shaken

wear

wore

wearing

worn

shine

shone

shining

shone

win

won

winning

won

shoot

shot

shooting

shot

write

wrote

writing

written

show

showed

showing

shown

sing

sang

singing

sung

LIST OF VERB FORMS (REGULAR)

PRESENT

PAST

PRESENT

PAST

PRESENT

PAST

PRESENT

PAST

add

added

divide

divided

tie

tied

burst

burst

agree

agreed

drop

dropped

try

tried

cost

cost

allow

allowed

enter

entered

use

used

cut

cut

arrange

arranged

escape

escaped

wrap

wrapped

hit

hit

arrive

arrived

finish

finished

hurt

hurt

bake

baked

fit

fitted

let

let

bark

barked

hand

handed

put

put

bathe

bathed

hope

hoped

read

read

breathe

breathed

hurry

hurried

set

set

care

cared

join

joined

shut

shut

carry

carried

jump

jumped

spread

spread

cause

caused

laugh

laughed

change

changed

live

lived

clap

clapped

marry

married

close

closed

move

moved

complete

completed

name

named

copy

copied

note

noted

cry

cried

reply

replied

dance

danced

stop

stopped

decorate

decorated

study

studied

die

died

talk

talked