Past Tense Summary Chart

Summary of Lesson 8

The Simple Past Tense
1. Be

Was Were

I We
You ∂ were in Paris.
He ∂ was in Paris. They
She
There were many problems.
It

There was a problem.

AFFIRMATIVE Was Were
NEGATIVE
YES/NO QUESTION He was in Poland. They were in France.
SHORT ANSWER He wasn’t in Russia. They weren’t in England.
WH- QUESTION Was he in Hungary? Were they in Paris?
NEGATIVE QUESTION No, he wasn’t. No, they weren’t.
SUBJECT QUESTION Where was he? When were they in France?
Why wasn’t he in Russia? Why weren’t they in Paris?
Who was in Russia? How many people were in France?

2. Other Verbs

AFFIRMATIVE REGULAR VERB (WORK) IRREGULAR VERB (BUY)
NEGATIVE
YES/NO QUESTION She worked on Saturday. They bought a car.
SHORT ANSWER She didn’t work on Sunday. They didn’t buy a motorcycle.
WH- QUESTION Did she work in the morning? Did they buy an American car?
NEGATIVE QUESTION Yes, she did. No, they didn’t.
Where did she work? What kind of car did they buy?
SUBJECT QUESTION Why didn’t she work on Why didn’t they buy an
Sunday?
Who worked on Sunday? American car?
How many people bought an

American car?

252 Lesson 8