1. Use:
a) an action that started in the past and was completed in the past
Example: She arrived there yesterday. She bought some interesting things.
b) actions that follow each other
- She paid for her shopping and walked out.
Structure: regular verb + ed or irregular verb
2. Questions/negation = did/didn’t + infinitive
I didn’t know she arrived on Friday. Did you call the police?
💡Questions with wh- (who, what, which) don’t use did
This wh- (who, what, which) question is called a subject question. These questions ask about the person or thing that performed the action.
- Who cooked dinner? My mother cooked dinner. Who/mother= subject dinner=object
- What caused the problem? A virus caused the issue.
- Which key opened the door? The white key opened the door.
These questions ask about the object:
What did you buy? I bought a skirt. What/skirt =object; you=subject
What did he do? He hid. What/hid= asks about the action; he =subject
Chris ate cereal.
Who ate cereal?
Spelling
a) Regular verbs usually end with ed: work=worked, smile=smiled, unless they end with e already, then only d is needed.
b) One syllable verbs will double the last consonant: stop = stopped, drop = dropped unless there are two vowels before the consonant or a word ends in y or w: look=looked, cook=cooked
c) The letter y changes to ied when y follows a consonant: apply= applied, copy=copied
Some irregular verbs: