Welcome to easy simple past; this is the best place to learn this topic in a different way, and your are going to enjoy while you are learning. You will have a great time sharing your experience and knowledge with other people. Enjoy the trip.

Now, you will see different exercises and explanation about how to use simple past tense.

There are several types of grammar tense in English; due to that, we have to identify which is the correct  tense to use when we want to express an idea.

USE 1: Completed Action in the Past

          Use the Simple Past to express the idea that an action started and finished at a specific time in the past. Sometimes, the speaker may not actually mention the specific time, but they do have one specific time in mind.

Simple Past structure:

"Noun + Verb in past tense + complement"
"  He    -          washed           - his car in the afternoon". 

Example: to walk

Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative
I walked	I didn't walk	Did I walk?
You walked	You didn't walk	Did you walk?
He, she, it walked	He didn't walk	Did he walk?
We walked	We didn't walk	Did we walk?
You walked	You didn't walk	Did you walk?
They walked	They didn't walk	Did they walk?

USE 2: A Series of Completed Actions

            We use the Simple Past to list a series of completed actions in the past. These actions happen 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and so on.

Examples:

• 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.
• Did you add flour, pour in the milk, and then add the eggs?

USE 3 Duration in Past

       The Simple Past can be used with a duration which starts and stops in the past. A duration is a longer action often indicated by expressions such as: for two years, for five minutes, all day, all year, etc.

Examples:

• I lived in Brazil for two years.
• Shauna studied Japanese for five years.
• They sat at the beach all day.
• They did not stay at the party the entire time.
• We talked on the phone for thirty minutes.
• A: How long did you wait for them?
  B: We waited for one hour.

USE 4 Habits in the Past

           The Simple Past can also be used to describe a habit which stopped in the past. It can have the same meaning as "used to." To make it clear that we are talking about a habit, we often add expressions such as: 

          always, often, usually, never, when I was a child, when I was younger, etc.

Examples:

• I studied French when I was a child.
• He played the violin.
• He didn't play the piano.
• Did you play a musical instrument when you were a kid?
• She worked at the movie theater after school.
• They never went to school, they always skipped class.

USE 5 Past Facts or Generalizations

          The Simple Past can also be used to describe past facts or generalizations which are no longer true. As in USE 4 above, this use of the Simple Past is quite similar to the expression "used to."

Examples:

• She was shy as a child, but now she is very outgoing.
• He didn't like tomatoes before.
• Did you live in Texas when you were a kid?
• People paid much more to make cell phone calls in the past.

IMPORTANT When-Clauses Happen First

          Clauses are groups of words which have meaning but are often not complete sentences. Some clauses begin with the word "when" such as "when I dropped my pen..." or "when class began..." These clauses are called when-clauses, and they are very important. The examples below contain when-clauses.

Examples:

• When I paid her one dollar, she answered my question.
• She answered my question when I paid her one dollar.

           When-clauses are important because they always happen first when both clauses are in the Simple Past. Both of the examples above mean the same thing: first, I paid her one dollar, and then, she answered my question. It is not important whether "when I paid her one dollar" is at the beginning of the sentence or at the end of the sentence. However, the example below has a different meaning. First, she answered my question, and then, I paid her one dollar.

Example:

• I paid her one dollar when she answered my question.

ADVERB PLACEMENT

           The examples below show the placement for grammar adverbs such as: always, only, never, ever, still, just, etc.

Examples:

• You just called Debbie.
• Did you just call Debbie?

AFFIRMATIVE / NEGATIVE / INTERROGATIVE

• I didn't see a play yesterday.
• Last year, I didn't travel to Korea.
• Did you have dinner last night?

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