Simple past tense

So you can talk about specific actions that happened before now

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Simple past tense

Slavery in the US

Instructions: : Read the text about Slavery in the US. Look at the words in bold.

Slaves waiting for sale - Richmond, Virginia. Wikimedia commons.

Slavery in America started in 1619, when a Dutch ship brought 20 African slaves ashore in the British colony of Jamestown, Virginia. Throughout the 17th century, European settlers in North America turned to African slaves as a cheaper, more plentiful labor source than indentured servants, who were mostly poor Europeans. Though it is impossible to give accurate figures, some historians have estimated that 6 to 7 million black slaves were imported to the New World during the 18th century alone, depriving the African continent of some of its healthiest and ablest men and women. In the 17th and 18th centuries, black slaves worked mainly on the tobacco, rice and indigo plantations of the southern coast, from the Chesapeake Bay colonies of Maryland and Virginia south to Georgia. After the American Revolution, many colonists—particularly in the North, where slavery was relatively unimportant to the agricultural economy—began to link the oppression of black slaves to their own oppression by the British, and to call for slavery’s abolition.

History.com (2019). Slavery in America. Retrieved http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/slavery

Getting started: Foundations of slavery in the US

Instructions: Read the text in order to complete the following activity.

After the Revolutionary War, the new U.S. Constitution tacitly acknowledged the institution of slavery, counting each slave as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of taxation and representation in Congress and guaranteeing the right to repossess any “person held to service or labor” (an obvious euphemism for slavery). In the late 18th century, with the land used to grow tobacco nearly exhausted, the South faced an economic crisis, and the continued growth of slavery in America seemed in doubt. Around the same time, the mechanization of the textile industry in England led to a huge demand for American cotton, a southern crop whose production was unfortunately limited by the difficulty of removing the seeds from raw cotton fibers by hand.

Slavery in America. Retrieved January, 2017 from http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/slavery

African Slaves

Instructions: Choose T (true) or F (false) for the following statements:

StatementsTF
A slave was worth 3/5 of a person after the Revolutionary War.

The new US Constitution, after the Revolutionary War, acknowledged the institution of slavery.

Land used to grow tobacco was healthy at the end of the 18th century.

Let’s review the simple past tense.

Instructions: Read the following verbs.

We use the simple past tense to talk about events that happened in the past. To form the past tense of regular verbs we only add ed. Examples:

PresentPast “ED”
workworked
traveltraveled
cookcooked
playplayed
barkbarked
looklooked
bakebaked
smilesmiled
laughlaughed

 

Look at the word order in the positive form:

SubjectVerb in past “ED”Complement.
Iworkedin a bank for many years.
Youtraveleda lot last year.
Elizabethcookedfor the guests.
Michaelplayedthe guitar in the party.
The dogbarkedall night.
My wife and Ibakedthe wedding cake.
They laughedbecause of the joke.

 

Irregular verbs in past change partially or totally. Look at the examples:

PresentPast
gowent
havehad
thinkthought
dodid
makemade
readread
understandunderstood
runrun
seesaw
eatate
winwon

 

Look at the word order in the positive form:

SubjectVerb in past “ED”Complement.
Iwentto the movies last week.
Youhada party on Saturday.
Elizabeththoughtit was your birthday.
Michaeldidhis homework at night.
The dogmadea lot of noise last night.
My wife and Ireadan interesting novel.
They understoodthe lesson.

We use the auxiliary DID + NOT and the base form of regular and irregular verbs to make negative sentences in the simple past tense.

Look at the word order in the negative form:

SubjectDid + NotVerb (Simple form)Complement.
Ididn’tstudyhard for the exam.
Youdidn’tgoto the movies last week.
Peterdidn’tplaythe guitar at the party.
Susandidn’tlistenthe alarm clock this morning.
Wedidn’treadthat novel.
Theydidn’tworklast week.

We use the auxiliary DID and the base form of regular and irregular verbs to make questions in the simple past tense.

 

Look at the word order in the Interrogative form:

Auxiliary DidSubjectVerb (Simple form)Complement?Yes / No Short Answers
Didyoustudyhard for the exam?Yes, I did. / No, I didn’t.
DidJamesplaythe guitar at the party?Yes, he did. / No, he didn’t.
DidSusanlistenthe alarm clock this morning?Yes, she did. / No, she didn’t.
Didthe alarm clockringyesterday morning?Yes, it did. / No, it didn’t.
Didall of youstudyin the same school?Yes, we did. / No, we didn’t.
Didthe girlsgoto the party?Yes, they did. / No, they didn’t.

If we want to get specific information about the past we can use question words.

We also use the auxiliary DID and the Simple form of regular or irregular verbs in the questions. Examples:

Look at the word order:

Question WordAuxiliary DidSubjectVerb (Simple form)Complement?Answers
Whendidyoustudyhard for the exam?Last night.
WheredidJamesplaythe guitar?At a party.
WhatdidCarolinedolast vacation?She went to Europe.
How longdidshestaythere?Two weeks.
Whydidtheyworkso hard?They wanted to get married.

Quiz

Slavery for service or labor

Instructions: Write the verb in simple past.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, black slaves (work) mainly on the tobacco, rice and indigo plantations of the southern coast. After the American Revolution (1775-83), many colonists (begin) to link the oppression of black slaves to their own oppression by the British, and to call for slavery’s abolition. After the war’s end, however, the new U.S. Constitution tacitly (acknowledge) the institution, counting each slave as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of taxation and representation in Congress and guaranteeing the right to repossess any “person held to service or labor”.

done Check

Quiz

The cotton gin

Instructions: Make questions with the following words:

  1. The South in the US faced an economic crisis in the late 18th century. ?
  2. The continued growth of slavery in America seemed in doubt. ?
  3. The mechanization of the textile industry in England led to a huge demand for American cotton at the same time. ?
  4. Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin to remove the sedes in 1793. ?
  5. The South produced cotton and reinforced the region’s dependence on slave labor. ?
  6. Many of the north’s businessmen grew rich on the slave trade and investments in southern plantations. ?
  7. The domestic trade flourished, and the slave population in the U.S. nearly tripled over the next 50 years. ?
done Check

Evaluation

Slaves and slave owners

Instructions: Change the following statements to the past tense.

  1. Slaves in the antebellum South constitute about one-third of the Southern population. .
  2. Most slaves live on large farms or small plantations; many masters own less than 50 slaves. .
  3. Slave owners seek to make their slaves completely dependent on them, and a system of restrictive codes govern life among slaves. .
  4. They are prohibited from learning to read and write, and their behavior and movement are restricted. .
  5. Many masters take sexual liberties with slave women, and reward obedient slave behavior with favors. .
  6. A strict hierarchy among slaves help keep them divided and less likely to organize against their masters. .
  7. Slave marriages have no legal basis, but slaves did marry and raise large families. .
done Check

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