Review: Negative Statements and Questions in the Past Tense

This week we galloped (look it up, galloped) through some review exercises on forming questions and negative statements. Here is a link to my post from last year on practicing negative statements and questions in the past tense:

My suggestion: Click on the link below, read the post, then click on the links provided and do the suggested exercises.

LINK: Practice Simple Past Tense: Negatives and Questions

Practice Simple Past Tense--Negatives and Questions

Recently we have worked on the simple past tense. We use did as a helping verb to make a negative statement in the past tense (in the present tense, we use do or does). You have a handout on forming statements, negative statements, yes/no questions, and short answers in the past tense. Please practice asking questions in the past tense, both by writing them and saying them aloud.

My Suggestions: Practice writing sentences and questions in the past tense by clicking the first link below. Each question gives you words for a sentence, with only the simple base form of the verb. If it is a positive statement, you have to change the base form of the verb to the simple past form.. If the word not is next to the verb you are given, make the sentence negative, whether it is a statement or a question. If the sentence is a question or is negative, you have to add the helping verb (did) and use the BASE form of the verb. When you type the sentence, be sure to put the words in the correct order, capitalize the first word, and put the correct punctuation mark at the end. Read the directions carefully--do not include extra spaces in your answer, or the computer will read it as incorrect:

LINK: Practice making simple past sentences at Englishlearner.com 

Here are 25 practice exercises on making questions in the past tense:

LINK: 25 Practice Exercises on Questions in the Simple Past Tense
  
For "listen and repeat" practice in making questions in several verb tenses (present continuous, past, present, and future), click on this link:

LINK: Listen to Questions and Answers in 4 Verb Tenses 

Simple Past Tense--Links to Lessons and Exercises

This week we began studying the simple past tense. If you missed class, I have handouts and exercises for you, but below are some links to websites with good lessons on the simple past tense of verbs. There are also links to grammar exercises and quizzes on the simple past. You should study the past form of irregular verbs to prepare for the exercises. I gave you lists of irregular verbs in class, but you can also click on the tab for "Irregular Verbs" at the top of this blog and explore the posts that come up. They all have links to websites with more information about (or practice with) irregular verb forms.

My Suggestion: If you want more lessons on the simple past tense, try the links below.

If you want to practice listening and repeating verbs and sentences in the simple past tense, click on this link:

LINK: Practice saying past tense verbs in questions and answers

We can use the past tense with today to talk about what we did EARLIER in the day: "Today I went to school and then rode the bus home."

LINK: Practice saying what you did today

If you want exercises or quizzes, click on the link below. Remember--don't type extra spaces in your answer, or the computer will read it as the wrong answer, even if you typed the correct word.

LINK: Simple Past Tense Exercises

Here is an exercise that gives you two sentences and asks you to click on the sentence that is written in past tense (the other sentence is written in either present tense or in future tense with will--will eat, will go, etc.).

LINK: Choose the sentence in past tense

"Garbage Patch" Vocabulary at Studystack.com

Click the link to study these ten vocabulary words from the reading on ocean garbage:

          garbage              patch                spin                   current         manufactured   
          material             pollution          dangerous         cargo            recycle

LINK: Vocabulary from "Garbage Patch" Reading

Service Dog Vocabulary at Studystack.com

Click the link next to the pictures to study the meaning of these vocabulary words from the "Hero Dogs" reading:

    disability    service dog    training    volunteer    task    command    healthy    veteran

LINK: Service Dog Vocabulary Words

Review and Practice--Spelling Rules for adding -ed and -ing to verbs

Click on the link below to review spelling rules for adding -ed (for simple past tense) and -ing (for progressive tenses) to verbs:

LINK:Review and practice adding -ed and -ing endings

Wow! Bilingual Sentence Pairs!

I didn't know that Manythings.org had a page where you can read sentence pairs in English AND the translation in any language you choose. However, these sentences are written by volunteers in something called the Tatoeba project. Many of them are students, and the sentences have not been checked by their teachers for grammar errors or awkward expressions.

Nevertheless, reading sentences in your language and English at the same time may help reinforce vocabulary. Over 50 languages are represented (unfortunately, there are no Burmese sentences at this time). Here is what the first part of the page looks like:

The Sentence Pairs

• English - Afrikaans (716)
• English - Algerian Arabic (157)
• English - Arabic (10734)
• English - Basque (569)
• English - Belarusian 

Click on the link below, then click on the language pair you want to read. Then you can click on one of the pages to read bilingual sentence pairs.

LINK: Choose a Language Pair