Easy ESOL Grammar: 2016

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Simple Past

Use past tense to talk about an action any time after you finished that action.

If you don't need an explanation or more examples, you can scroll down and try the links* to practice and quizzes.

J.J. English' Overview with examples:

For the verb, "to be," use was or were.

was for 1 I was we were
were for 2+ = you were you were
always were for you he,she,it was they were

Practice was vs. were

For regular verbs, add _ed to show past in a positive sentence. They listened to me.
Use Did and the base form to show past in a question. Did you listen to me?
Use didn't and the base form to show past in a negative sentence. He didn't listen to me.

When do you use simple past?

English Page Explanation

Children's Video: Great pronunciation of What did you do? uses childish imagery.
Real English -- What did you do yesterday?

Regular verbs end in ed. How do you pronounce -ed?

*My English Pages Online Grammar Practice

Press the little down arrow if you want to change the verb

Practice Making Questions

SXS Video Examples past tense

Ventures Online goes with our textbook, but I can't give you direct links to the exercises on past tense.

Note where to go before you click on the link.

Ventures Online -- Go to Level 1 (red) Unit 8 -- Lessons B -- Verb "to be"

Go to Level 1 (red) Unit 9-- Lessons B and C Past Tense

Go to Level 1 (red) Unit 10--Lessons B Past tense

Go to Level 2 (blue) Unit 3 Lessons B and C Past Tense

Go to Level 2 (blue) Unit 6 Lessons B and C Past Tense

Go to Level 2 (blue) Unit 8 Lessons B

Fill in the blank with past tense verbs

Verbs that don't use __ed to show past tense are called irregular verbs. There are many irregular verbs. ESOL students usually have to memorize them.

EASY ESOL IRREGULAR VERBS

Easy Fill in the Blank with irregular verbs

Mark's English School basketball game with regular and irregular verbs

Many Things Memory Game with irregular vebs

Jeapardy Style Memory Game

The ELF chants are easy, but at a good speed to practice listening and speaking.

ELF Past Chant 1

ELF Past Chant 2

ELF Past Chant 3

Since this next video -- with tons of clear examples of past tense -- is long, you may want to start at minute 1:50. I really want my students to make similar videos.

Just a song with some past tense verbs -- "Summer Nights" from Grease

Simple Past

For the verb, "to be," use was or were.

was for 1 I was we were
were for 2+ = you were you were
always were for you he,she,it was they were

Practice was vs. were

Another explanation and quiz from grammarbank.com

J.J. English' Overview with examples:

Most verbs add -ed to show that they are past.

They happened one time and it finished.

"Between the Lions" kids' song "It's over now" -- teaches to add ---ed only when something is finished

English Page Explanation

Real English -- What did you do yesterday?

I really like this next video except for two tiny points. I think we often put two verbs together in continuous and perfect tenses. In those cases, however, one of the verbs is always a form of be or have.

Also, when there are two syllables or more, we only double the final consonant before the ed if that syllable is stressed. For visit, we stress vis, so we don't double visited. Both the British and American versions of traveled are correct because British people stress the vel more than Americans do. Students shouldn't have to memorize long lists of which verbs double the final consonant before the ed.

Games to Learn Practice!

My English Pages Online Grammar Practice

Press the little down arrow if you want to change the verb

Practice Making Questions

SXS Video Examples past tense

Ventures Online goes with our textbook, but I can't give you direct links to the exercises on past tense.

Note where to go before you click on the link.

Ventures Online -- Go to Level 1 (red) Unit 8 -- Lessons B -- Verb "to be"

Go to Level 1 (red) Unit 9-- Lessons B and C Past Tense

Go to Level 1 (red) Unit 10--Lessons B Past tense

Go to Level 2 (blue) Unit 3 Lessons B and C Past Tense

Go to Level 2 (blue) Unit 6 Lessons B and C Past Tense

Go to Level 2 (blue) Unit 8 Lessons B

Fill in the blank with past tense verbs

Easy Fill in the Blank with irregular verbs

Many Things Memory Game with irregular vebs

Jeapardy Style Memory Game

Examples of answers to "Why did you leave your last job?"

Pronouncing the -ed at the end of past tense forms

Just a song with some past tense verbs -- "Summer Nights" from Grease

More Irregular Past Tense Practice

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Past Perfect (Advanced)

Past perfect is used to show a time that is earlier than another past time. I use the past perfect when I talk about the past of the past.

She had brushed her teeth before she went to bed.

He had taken English 25 years before he took my class, but he couldn't remember his verb tenses.

Had you ever ridden a horse before you went to that camp?

I have never gone to Switzerland before that trip.

She said that she had never understood English until she took my class.

www.englishpage.com explanation and practice

The next video is mostly present progressive for the future, but there's a couple past perfect lyrics early in the song.

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Past Modals (Low Advanced Level)

Explanation and practice from www.english-at-home.com

Catapult Quiz Game from www.eslgamesplus.com

Pick a past modal -- quiz from autoenglish.org

Basketball Game from eslgamesworld.com -- the questions are easier than shooting the basket!

Fill in the blank with a past model from speakspeak.com

could have or might have + past participle practice

University of Victoria Study Zone: Past Modals

LEFG -- Pick the Modal

Explanation and practice for modals of past probability/past possibility from University of Victoria

Mixed Modal Practice from UsingEnglish

Monday, May 30, 2016

Present Perfect (high intermediate/advanced)

We form present perfect with

have in present tense + a past participle verb.

(past participle --ends in ed for regular verbs, column to the right for irregular)

We use present perfect for:

unspecified time in the past (When you specify the exact time the finished event occurred, use simple past)

----I have ridden on an elephant.
----They haven't studied their irregular verbs
----She has grown taller.
----Have you ever flown an airplane?
----Has he ever gone to Egypt?
With "just" for something recently finished
----I've just made dinner.

----She has just come home.

things repeated in the past
----He has gone skiing four times
----How many times has she gone on a cruise?

for events that occured within a range of time:
----I have jogged six times in the past month
----She has gotten dizzy twice in the past year
--- He has only gone to the gym once since he joined it.
----We haven't gone on a date in the past six months
with "already" for things completed before expected (Usually positive statements)
----She has already completed that worksheet.
----We have already finished three chapters.
with "yet" in negative sentences and questions for things that were expected to be completed earlier. Although they aren't complete, they will be.
----We haven't studied passive voice yet
----She hasn't heard the important news yet.
with "since" and "for" for things that started in the past and continued until now
----I have lived in Northern Virginia since 1990.
----She has swum competitively for eight years.
----He hasn't done laundry since he got married.

English Page explanation and exercises. (Note: These exercises are hard. I recommend reading the explanation, doing other practice, then doing these exercises.)

Still, already, just --How do I use these words? How do they change the meaning?

Some students find present perfect difficult because

They don't remember when to use have vs. has Practice "have" in simple present,
They don't know many Irregular Verbs
It's illogical to use a tense called "present" for the past. The "have" we use in present perfect is the present form of have, but we usually use present perfect to refer to a past time or to a time that started in the past.