PAST SIMPLE, REGULAR AND IRREGULAR VERBS. PRESENT PERFECT AND PAST SIMPLE
A. Pre-reading task. Choose the correct tense – Past Simple or Present Perfect. What’s the difference between them?
1) It snowed all winter last year, but it _______ (not/snow) much this winter.
2) This year I ______ (give) up freelancing and have found a well-paid job.
3) I ______ (get) up when the sky was blue. The alarm clock didn’t go off.
4) When I _______ (work) as a postman I could speak with many people.
5) You look at me like I ______ (do) something wrong. What’s up?
6) He ______ (lay) all his clothes on the bed and found the missing sock.
7) Mr Clark ______ (work) in a bank for 15 years. Then he gave up.
8) Laura _____ (pass) her examination because she _____ (study) very hard.
9) I read a newspaper yesterday, but I _______ (not/read) one today.
10) Mozart ______ (write) more than 600 pieces of music.
B. Read the theory material about the Present Simple and the Present Continuous.
All English verbs grammatically can be finite and non-finite (Infinitive, Gerund, Participle). If a verb is finite, it has a tense form. Finite verbs have the following forms: 1) base form (walk), 2) ‘-s’ form (walks), 3) past form (walked). All modern verbs form their past with the suffix ‘-ed’ (I recently googled my 7th grade teacher and found his current e-mail).
Besides base form irregular verbs have two forms – Past tense (did, caught) and Past Participle (II) (done, brought). There over 300 English irregular verbs, some of them describe tough realities of medieval life (beat, bleed, burn, cut, fight, freeze, hang, hit, hurt, knit, mow, saw, shoot, slay, sting, strike, swear, swell, tear, weep). We need to know about 60 irregular verbs, which can be found in a glossary. Uneducated people and children may still use strange verb forms (I went fishing and cotched* some fish; My mummy brung* me hot milk).
Some compound verbs have an irregular second part (overeat, mishear, foresee, oversleep, misspell, overtake, rethink, breast-feed, baby-sit, lip-read): (She thought he said ‘fool’ but could have misheard).
Some irregular verbs have two past forms – either regular (burned, dreamed, fitted, learned, lighted, spelled, spilled, spoiled, smelled, speeded) or irregular (burnt, dreamt, fit, learnt, lit, spelt, spilt, spoilt, smelt, sped). British speakers tend to say ‘he burnt all his papers’, American speakers almost always use regular forms like ‘he burned all his papers’.
In some cases, different past forms relate to different meanings. The Past form and the Past Participle of ‘hang’ is normally ‘hung’. However, ‘hanged’ can also be used but with a different meaning (An Iron Cross hung from a ribbon around his neck. / He had been found guilty of murder and hanged).
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Some verbs get confused – the verb ‘lie (lay, lain)’ means to lie flat: She switched off the light and lay on the bed. The verb ‘lay (laid, laid)’ means to put things on the surface: She laid the map on the table. The verb ‘lie (lied, lied)’ means to be untrue: He lied about his age to get into the army.
The Past Indefinite is used for general situations, habits, things that are always true and unchanging states (I was walking along the road when I saw Dave. I stopped and we had a chat).
The Present Perfect is made by a form of the auxiliary verb ‘have/has’ and a Past Participle (II) of the main verb (V3).
The Present Perfect is not a tense proper, but a tense-aspect form because it shows the way in which an action is performed. The Present Perfect is often describes as ‘the past of the present’. And we can use present for Russian translations: She’s gone ( ее нет ), I’ve eaten ( я сыт ), I’ve loved you since we met ( я люблю тебя с первой встречи ). The Present Perfect adjuncts are these: (recently, in the last few days, since, so far, yet, ever, never, the first time, the second time): Have you ever eaten caviar? – No, this is the first time I’ve tasted it! We don’t say I’ve done it yesterday because ‘yesterday’ is a past adjunct.
The Present Perfect is used to talk about:
1 Actual news: Have you heard? They’ve just got an award.
2 Momentary quick actions: Oh, no! I’ve broken my i-Phone!
3 Result of actions: Jane’s hurt her hand, so she cannot write.
4 Unpleasant acts repeated several times: The bus has been late 3 times today.
5 ‘All inclusive’ (past and present) action: I’ve worked here since 2010.
Note that with time clauses introduced by ‘after, when, until, as soon as, once, by the time’ and the time expression ‘the minute, the second, the moment’ the Past Simple refers to the past, completed events and the Present Perfect refers to future events: After she left hospital (past), she had a long holiday. / After Dominic has left school (future), he will be spending six months in India.
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C. Answer the questions:
1) What forms do finite and non-finite verbs have? Give examples.
2) How do modern verbs form their past forms? Give modern examples.
3) What three forms do irregular verbs have?
4) How many irregular English verbs are there? And in current use?
5) Give an example sentence with an irregular compound verb.
6) American speakers say ‘I spilt coffee’, don’t they?
7) Is there difference in meaning between Past Participles of the verb ‘hang’?
8) Give example sentences with three verbs: ‘lie’, ‘lay’ and ‘lie’.
9) How is the Present Perfect often described? What are its common adjuncts?
10) How is the Present Perfect used? Give example sentences.
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