Past simple: when exactly? [ORG 11.5.1]
Look at all the instances of the past simple tense here and decide whether they refer to:
An event (E): The Normans invaded England in 1066.
A habit (HAB): They built some splendid cathedrals and castles.
A state (S): They enjoyed fighting.
or whether the past tense is used for:
An attitude (A):I thought that ...
Indirect speech/thought (I): everyone knew about the Normans.
Hypothesis(HYP): If William visited Hastings today,
Example: (1) wondered (A) ...
I (1) wondered ................whether you (2) knew ..............that 1066 is the most famous date in English history?
In January 1066 the old king (Edward the Confessor) (3) died ..........and Harold, the Earl of Wessex, (4) proclaimed ....................himself king. But across the Channel Duke William of Normandy (5) wanted .............................the English throne, and immediately (6) started .........................assembling his army and fleet.
Throughout the summer Harold (7) looked ...............across to France, but no Normans (8) came ..................Ships in those days (9) needed ..................windpower, and contrary winds and storms (10) delayed ...............William even whenhe(11) was
.................ready.
And then in September, another claimant to the throne, Harald of Norway, (12) landed ....................in northern England and (13) captured ........................York. Medieval kings of course (14) led ....................their own armies, so English Harold (15) took
......................his army north.
Perhaps you wish that twentieth century armies (16) used .............such simple
weapons as bows and arrows - which is what armies in those days ( 17)fought......
with - but they (18) could ...............inflict fatal injuries. An arrow (19) killed ..............the Norwegian king
Two days later William of Normandy finally (20) landed .............in southern England, a few miles west of Hastings on the south coast of England. Harold (21) marched ...................his tired army south (armies (22) walked ..................everywhere in those days). The two armies (23) met ...............on 14 October. Harold and two of his brothers (24) died ..............fighting. William was the Conqueror!
The battle that (25) changed ...............the course of English history is known as the
Battle of Hastings, but if you (26) went ....................to Hastings today you would find a busy seaside town. To visit the actual battlefield you must go to the village that is simply known as Battle.
Past simple or present perfect?
Complete the following with either:
past simple w/ ote, uas, became . . . present perfect haslhave written, has/have been, haslhave become ...
Agatha Miller ( I be born) WAS BORN on 15 September 1890 in Torquay in south west England. Better known as Mrs Agatha Christie, she (2 write)
.............................. altogether 78 mystery novels and 19 plays.
Very few other crime writers (3 write) more books
than this, and few (4 become) so immensely popular.
Ever since she (5 publish) her first novel, The
MysteriousAffair atStyles in 1920, her books (6 never be) ..............................
OUt of print. They (7 be translated) all over the world,
and, perhaps surprisingly, her sales (8 actually increase) ..............................
since she (9 die) in 1976. For a short time after her death
they (10 fall) , so it was perhaps the screen that (11
revive) her popularity.
Two immensely successful films (12 be made) a few
years ago, Death on theNile and Murderon theOrientExpress, end these (13 more
recently be followed) by television series, which (14
bring) two of her most successful detectives, the Belgian
Hercule Poirot and the elderly English lady Miss Marple, to millions of viewers.
In 1990, the centenary of her birth, her birthplace Torquay (15 honour)
.............................. her memory with a special 'mystery festival' - good
publicity for the town of course. In 1992 a London theatre (16 be)
............. able to boast: The Mousetrap, now in its 40th year, (17
.............. all records.'
There is now even a rose that (18 be named) after her.
People (19 enjoy) Agatha Christie's story-telling for
years, and her popularity currently seems higher than it (20 ever be)
.............................. It is not of course the first time that an author (21
become) more popular in death than in life.
hreak) ..............
Past simple or past progressive?
A past progressive tense often refers to an activity in a period that includes the time of a past simple event, as in examples (i) and (ii) below.
Two past simple tenses usually show straightforward time sequence - first one event. and then the other (iii).
Write out the details below in complete sentences, using either:
past simple or past progressive
and adding when or while as suitable.
Examples:
2
met, fell... waslu ere meeting, u~aslu~ere falling
(i) President Kennedy be assassinated/he drive through Dallas. President Kennedy was assassinated while he was driving through Dallas.
(ii) Everyone alive at the time remembers what they do/President Kennedy be
killed.
Everyone . . . remembers what they were doing when President Kennedy was
killed.
(iii) Kennedy be assassinated/Lyndon Johnson be sworn in as president. When Kennedy was assassinated, Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as president.
1 Julius Caesar pursue a political rival into Egypt/he first meet Cleopatra.
' Julius Caesar meet Cleopatra/hefall in love with her.
3 Philip II of Macedon be assassinated in 336 se/he plan an invasion of Persia.
Marco Polo (1254- 1324) begin to write an account of his travels in China/he 'do time' in a Genoese prison.
5 Christopher Columbus look for Asia/he 'discover' America in 1492.
6 He return to Spain/he receive a hero's welcome.
7 Captain James Cook make his third great Pactfic voyage/he be killed in Hawaii in 1779.
8 Cook die/his crew take his ship back to Britain.
9 The French revolutionary Marat sit in his bath/Charlotte Corday rush in and kill him.
10 She assassinate him/ she be arrested immediately.
11 Dr Livingstone travel near Lake Tanganyika (now Tanzania)/the journalist
Henry Morton Stanley find him in 1871.
12 Stanley f nd him/he say, 'Dr Livingstone, I presume.'
Past simple or past perfect
l The main use of the past perfect is for an earlier past:
By the end of the nineteenth century Antarctic explorers had mapped out the coast of this forbidding continent and [had] trekked inland as far conth ac 7g S()S But it was not until l 9 l l that the South Pole itself was
reached.
Study these notes about the final race for the Pole between Robert Falcon Scott (of Britain) and the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. Then write out the story using the past simple or the past perfect.
Example: Scott already lead an earlierexpedition to the Antarctic in 1901 4, when he set out on his fateful last joumey.
Ansu~er: Scott had already led an earlier expedition ... when he set out ...
12 October 1910 - Scott's ship reached Melbourne (Australia), where Scott
received a cable from Madeira: 'Beg leave to inform you proceeding Antarctica.
Amundsen.'
4 Jan 1911 - Scott reached Cape Evans on Ross Island.
11 Jan - Amundsen reached Bay of Whales, 60 miles nearer the Pole than
Scott's base. Both parties laid depots as far south as they could and then waited for the Antarctic spring.
19 Oct - Amundsen's party left the Bay of Whales. I Nov - Scott's party set out.
14 Dec - Scott reached 2,000 feet above the sea. Amundsen reached the Pole, and raised the Norwegian flag.
21 Dec - Scott established his camp 43 at 7,100 feet. Sent back one of his support parties.
I Jan 1912 - Scott established a depot only 178 miles from Pole. Sent back last support party. Scott now with four companions (Wilson, Oates, Evans and
Bowers).
18 Jan - Scott's party reached the Pole and found the Norwegian flag. Began 800 mile return march to their base on Ross Island.
17 Feb - Evans died.
2 March - Reached Middle Barrier Depot, where hardly enough fuel oil left - because of leakage - to take them to One Ton Depot, 70 miles north. (They
never reached it.)
17 March - Oates walked out of the tent to his death, hoping the others might
survive without him.
21 March - Scott made final camp, only 11 miles south of One Ton Depot.
Frostbite and heavy gales prevented them from going to the depot for fuel. 29 March - Scott wrote in his joumal: 'The end cannot be far.' 12 Nov - Search party found the bodies of Scott, Wilson and Bowers.
I Scott reach Melbourne when he receive news that Amundsen was also heading for the Pole.
2 When Scott set up his first base on 4 January 191 1 Amundsen no' yet r each the
6
Bay of Whales.
3 Scott's party set out on I November. Amundsen's party already leave.
4 Scott's party only get 2,000 feet above sea level when the Norwegians reach the Pole.
~ Scott not know that Amundsen beat him to it. On I January 1912 Scott begin his final attack and send back his last support party. The other support party be sent back ten days earlier.
7 Scott reach the Pole on 18 January 1912 only to discover Amundsen r aise the Norwegian flag there a month before.
8 They cover 800 miles, but they face the 800-mile return journey.
9 On reaching Middle Barrier Depot on 2 March they fl nd that vital fuel oil leak.
10 On 17 March Oates died. Evans died four weeks earlier.
11 They be defeated by the appalling weather conditions before they manage to reach One Ton Depot.
12 Scott and his companions be dead over seven months when they be d iscovered by a search party in November 1912.
l