LISTENING SKILL - PRACTISING THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE WITH A SONG

LISTENING ACTIVITY

You are going to watch a music video in order to practise how to form the Simple Past tense of regular and irregular verbs.

Tasks:

- First, fill in the gaps with the Simple Past form of the verbs in brackets. 

- Second, check your answers when you watch the video which contains the lyrics of the song.


“THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY" by KATY PERRY

Summer after high school when we first _________________ (meet)
We ______________ (make)  out in your Mustang to Radiohead
And on my 18th birthday we ______________ (get) matching tattoos
________________ (use) to steal your parents' liquor and climb to the roof
Talk about our future like we ____________________ (have) a clue
Never _______________ (plan) that one day I'd be losing you

In another life I would be your girl
We keep all our promises, be us against the world
And in other life I would make you stay
So I don't have to say you ________________ (be) the one that _______________ (get) away
The one that ___________ (get) away!

I _______________ (be) June and you ____________ (be) my Johnny Cash
Never one without the other, we _______________ (make) a pact
Sometimes when I miss you, I put those records on, (whoa)
Someone _____________ (say) you _______________ (have) your tattoo removed
_________________ (see) you downtown singing the blues
It's time to face the music, I'm no longer your muse

In another life I would be your girl
We keep all our promises, be us against the world
And in another life, I would make you stay
So I don't have to say you ________________ (be) the one that ________________(get) away
The one that __________________ (get) away

The o-o-o-o-one   The o-o-o-o-one   The o-o-o-o-one The one that got away

All this money can't buy me a time machine, (Nooooo)
Can't replace you with a million rings, (Nooooo)
I should've told you what you _________________ (mean) to me, (whoa)
'Cause now I pay the price

In another life I would be your girl
We keep all our promises, be us against the world

And in another life, I would make you stay
So I don't have to say you ___________________ (be) the one that ____________ (get) away
The one that _______________ (get) away (TWICE)!

GRAMMAR - PAST SIMPLE "TO BE"

AFFIRMATIVE SENTENCES	NEGATIVE SENTENCES
I WAS You WERE He WAS She WAS It WAS We WERE You WERE They WERE	I  WAS NOT / WASN’T You WERE NOT / WEREN’T     He WAS NOT / WASN’T        She   WAS NOT / WASN’T      It WAS NOT / WASN’T      We WERE NOT / WEREN’T         You WERE NOT / WEREN’T       They WERE NOT / WEREN’T

QUESTIONS	SHORT ANSWERS
WAS I? WERE you? WAS he? WAS she? WAS it? WERE we? WERE you? WERE they?	Yes, I WAS / No, I WASN’T Yes, you WERE / No, you WEREN’T Yes, he WAS / No, he WASN’T Yes, she WAS / No, she WASN’T Yes, it WAS / No, it WASN’T Yes, we WERE / No, we WEREN’T Yes, you WERE / No, you WEREN’T Yes, they WERE / No, they WEREN’T

GRAMMAR - PAST SIMPLE TENSE: FORMATION AND USES

REGULAR VERBS	IRREGULAR VERBS
AFFIRMATIVE SENTENCE SUBJECT + V–ED*	AFFIRMATIVE SENTENCE SUBJECT + 2nd COLUMN (TABLE)
Examples: Mike helped in the house. They worked in Manchester.	Examples: Mike went to London. I took the bus.
NEGATIVE SENTENCE SUBJECT + DID NOT / DIDN’T + V
Examples: Mike did not / didn’t help in the house. They did not / didn’t work in Manchester.	Examples: Mike did not / didn’t go to London. I did not / didn’t take the bus.
INTERROGATIVE SENTENCE DID + SUBJECT + V?
Examples: Did Mike help in the house? Did they work in Manchester?	Examples: Did Mike go to London? Did I take the bus?
SHORT ANSWERS YES, SUBJECT PRONOUN + DID / NO, SUBJECT PRONOUN + DIDN’T
Examples: Yes, he did. / No, he didn’t. Yes, they did. / No, they didn’t.	Examples: Yes, he did. / No, he didn’t. Yes, I did. / No, I didn’t.

* SPELLING RULES:

1- Most verbs add -ED:
Appear → Appeared; Finish → Finished; Help → Helped; Present → Presented.

2- Verbs ending in  silent E →+D: 
Arrive → Arrived; Close → Closed; Dance → Danced; Decide → Decided.

3- Verbs ending in CONSONANT +Y → Y + IED:
Carry → Carried;  Study → Studied; Try → Tried. BUT: Play → Played ("a" is not a consonant).

4- Verbs ending in STRESSED VOWEL + CONSONANT → DOUBLE CONSONANT + ED: 
Ban → Banned;  Prefer → Preferred; Stop → Stopped. BUT: Open→ Opened  ("e" is not stressed). 

5- In BRITISH ENGLISH, verbs ending in VOWEL + L → DOUBLE L + ED: 
Cancel → Cancelled; Marvel → Marvelled; Travel → Travelled. BUT: Boil → Boiled (2 vowels, not 1).

* PRONUNCIATION: 

Click the following link on YouTube to practice the pronunciation of past tense sounds of regular verbs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_s12MkuvFQ

1. USES:

- Completed actions in the past.

- Actions that took place at a specific time in the past (i.e. description of a past event).

- Consecutive actions in the past (i.e. the main events in a story).

2. TIME EXPRESSIONS:

- ago

- yesterday, the day before yesterday

- last day / week / month / year

-in + year (in the past)

- then

- when + time clause (in the past)

GRAMMAR - PAST SIMPLE: IRREGULAR VERBS CHART

INFINITIVE	PAST SIMPLE	PAST PARTICIPLE	SPANISH TRANSLATION
be	was/were	been	ser/estar
begin	began	begun	empezar
break	broke	broken	romper
bring	brought	brought	traer
build	built	built	construir
burn	burnt	burnt	quemar
buy	bought	bought	comprar
can	could	been able to	poder
catch	caught	caught	coger
choose	chose	chosen	elegir
come	came	come	venir
cost	cost	cost	costar
cut	cut	cut	cortar
do	did	done	hacer
dream	dreamt	dreamt	soñar
drink	drank	drunk	beber
drive	drove	driven	conducir
eat	ate	eaten	comer
fall	fell	fallen	caer(se)
feel	felt	felt	sentir(se)
fight	fought	fought	luchar/ pelear
fly	flew	flown	volar
forget	forgot	forgotten	olvidar
get	got	got	obtener
give	gave	given	dar
go	went	gone	ir(se)
have	had	had	tener/haber
hear	heard	heard	oir
know	knew	known	saber
learn	learnt	learnt	aprender
leave	left	left	irse/dejar
lose	lost	lost	perder
make	made	made	hacer
must	had to	had to	tener que
pay	paid	paid	pagar
put	put	put	poner
read	read	read	leer
run	ran	run	correr
say	said	said	decir
see	saw	seen	ver
show	showed	shown	mostrar/enseñar
sing	sang	sung	cantar
sleep	slept	slept	dormir
speak	spoke	spoken	hablar
spend	spent	spent	gastar
take	took	taken	tomar
teach	taught	taught	enseñar
think	thought	thought	pensar
understand	understood	understood	entender
win	won	won	ganar