The Past Simple through a fun diary extract!
- kirsteen310
- Mar 16
- 4 min read
Some facts about the Past Simple.
First of all, we will look at the how we use the past simple and how we form sentences.
Regular Verbs - ending with ed
Base Form (infinitive) | Past tense (verb 2) |
Start | Started |
Look | Looked |
Need | Needed |
Deliver | Delivered |
Wait | Waited |
Want | Wanted |
Hope | Hoped |
Irregular Verbs
Base Form (infinitive) | Past tense (verb 2) |
Begin | Began |
Break | Broke |
Buy | Bought |
Give | Gave |
Hold | Held |
Make | Made |
Sell | Sold |
We use the Past Simple to talk about:
Something that happened in the past at a fixed time:
Example:
I met my husband in 1982.
We went to Scotland for our holidays.
They got home late last night.
With the 'verb to be' in the past tense we use: was/were.
I was
He was
She was
It was
We were
You were
They were
Example:
“I was at the garden centre yesterday”.
“He was very happy’’.
“They were late for the meeting”.
“You were right”
Past simple questions and negatives
We use did to make questions with the past simple:
Did she play tennis when she was younger?
Did you live abroad?
When did you meet your wife?
Where did you go for your holidays?
However, questions with who often don't use did:
Who discovered penicillin?
Who wrote Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone.
We use didn’t (did not) to make negatives with past simple:
They didn’t go to Scotland this year.
They didn’t get home until very late last night.
I didn’t see you yesterday.
The Past Simple – My diary entry of what I did last week.
Last Monday morning, my husband and I decided that we wanted to buy an ‘Olive tree’ for our front garden. We searched the internet and found a beautiful tree, before we knew it we had bought an ‘Olive tree’, it looked beautiful. We then planned where we were going to put it. Luckily, we found out that the cost for the delivery was free.
Before the tree arrived, we prepared the garden for its new position. I dug a very large hole; I felt that I needed to dig it quite deep and round, so the tree could have plenty of room to grow. I dug and dug and put soil into some large pots and bags, which meant I soon had lots of containers all around the garden. I cut various roots around the hole so the tree could go in neatly and with space to grow.
It seemed that I was starting to run out of room in the garden. My Husband joked and said, that I was gradually disappearing into my big hole, amongst lots of soil around me. I laughed and said, “well, you could come and help me if you like, then we will both be lost in a big hole together”. I laughed. He replied and said, “no thank you, its ok, you just carry on, you're doing a great job".
We said that we hoped we had chosen a good and attractive tree with nice, gnarled wood around its trunk and base, so that it would be worth all the effort. We have always loved ‘Olive trees’ with those features, when we have seen them in places like Italy, Spain or Greece. We’ve also always loved eating olives, whether they are green, black or Kalamata olives and love cooking with Olive Oil too.
Well, the day came when the tree was to be delivered. We waited in all morning, it felt like forever. Then at around 2.00 o’clock last Friday afternoon, we heard the lorry coming. It started reversing down the street, making bleeping noises for our safety. The delivery took place with the tree on a pallet, pushed by a delivery man, the tree looked fantastic and so beautiful. We asked if he could bring the tree nearer to the garden, but sadly, he said he wasn’t able too as his truck only lifted so far up, so the had to be dropped at the garden edge on a pallet.
Then the challenging part came as we needed to start the process of moving the tree across the garden to its final location.
My husband had put ladders horizontally down across the garden resting them on our limestone rocks that we have around the edges of our various flower beds. We pushed the tree from the pot to a horizontal position on the wood laying on the ladders and then the idea was to push it along, this was too difficult as we needed to get the pot up high enough to get onto the ladder. We had tried for some time and then to our surprise two neighbors were kind enough to offer to help move the tree with us. It was really very difficult, and we kept having to watch that the pot and tree didn’t fall off the ladders. However, with a lot of effort and pushing we gradually got the tree near to the hole, where the tree was going to go. In all it took about an hour, but we both felt it was worth all the effort.
As time went on, we got the tree nicely secure using plenty of soil, grit and compost. We put some more limestone around the base to make it look more authentic, as if it was in its natural environment. All the soil and grit will help the tree to grow and be more stable.
By about 5.30pm that afternoon the Olive tree looked as if it had always been there in the garden for the past 80 to 100 years which is great.
We are really, happy with it and some people have said, “It looks like it has always been there”, which was exactly what we wanted, we’re sure it will grow in more yet. We then watered it and have been continuously looking after it ever since.
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