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Unit 6: Great achievers
Past simple

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  5. 5Christmas every day
  6. 6Great achievers
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  23. 23Great expectations!
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  25. 25Moving house
  26. 26It must be love
  27. 27Job hunting success... and failure
  28. 28Speeding into the future
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  30. 30Tales of survival

Session 2

It's time to learn more about the past simple tense. We’ll find out when to use it and learn how to make positives, negatives and questions.  Then we'll put them into practice by interviewing a famous footballer!

Sessions in this unit

12345

Session 2 score

0 / 24

  • 0 / 9
    Activity 1
  • 0 / 7
    Activity 2
  • 0 / 0
    Activity 3
  • 0 / 8
    Activity 4
  • 0 / 0
    Activity 5
  1. Activity 1
  2. Activity 2
  3. Activity 3
  4. Activity 4
  5. Activity 5

Activity 1

Learn the Language: Past simple

In Session 1 we did a quiz about great achievers. In this session, we’ll learn how to use the past simple tense to talk about the things they did. Have a look at these notes and then try the activities.

The Past Simple

When to use it
We use the past simple tense when an action or situation happens and finishes in the past. We usually say or know when the past action happened. 

Examples

  • She called me at the office yesterday.
  • Steve went to the US three times last year.
  • Usain Bolt won the 100 meters in the 2012 Olympics.

How to make positive past simple sentences
The past tense is made from subject + verb-ed. Irregular verbs have a different past form.

  • I finished university in 2010 and I started a job in a bank. Then I left that job and went to live in Japan.

To do

Got that? Good. Now let’s do some practice. Meet Rob. He’s training for a triathlon. Watch his story and then do the activity. Or if you want a challenge, do the activity first and then watch the video.

Watch the video and do the activity

Show transcriptHide transcript

I love cycling... or I did... Last summer I had a nasty accident. I fell off my bike. I shouted to my friend for help. He ran into the street and found me on the ground. He called an ambulance. The ambulance took me to hospital. The doctor said I'd broken my leg and he put my leg in plaster. I couldn't walk for 8 weeks.

Now it feels a lot better. Sometimes it hurts during the night, but I just take some aspirin when it does. I feel fine these days, but I always get nervous when I go out on my bike.

Now try this quiz. See if you can choose the correct verb form for each gap. Look at the grammar notes if you need some help.

Rob’s cycling story

9 Questions

Choose the correct form of the verb (For help with irregular verbs, look at the irregular verb list).

Congratulations you completed the Quiz
Excellent!Great job!Bad luck!You scored:
x / y

Next

That's the past simple positive. On the next page we'll look at question forms, with the help of a very famous footballer. See you there!

Session Grammar

  • The Past Simple

    We use the past simple tense when an action or situation happens and finishes in the past. We usually say or know when the past action happened.

    She called me at the office yesterday.

    How to make positive past simple sentences

    The past tense is made from subject + verb-ed. Irregular verbs have a different past form.

    I finished university in 2010 and I started a job in a bank. Then I left that job and Iwent to live in Japan.

View full grammar reference

Session Vocabulary

  • triathlon
    a type of race where people swim, cycle, and run over very long distances

    in plaster
    when a broken bone is put into a hard cover to hold it in position while it gets better we say it’s ‘in plaster’

    nervous
    worried and scared

    Infinitive - Past simple - Past participle

    fall - fell - fallen

    feel - felt - felt

    get - got - got

    go - went - gone or been

    have - had - had

    hurt - hurt - hurt

    keep - kept - kept

    put - put - put

    run - ran - run

    take - took - taken

    tell - told - told

    win - won - won

View full vocabulary reference

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