The simple past is the form of the verb used to state an action that occurred in the past.
I studied history in high school.
George lived in Texas for awhile.
I fixed the flat on the tractor.
Yesterday we walked to school.
Error prevention: The only mistakes that occur with the simple past of regular verbs are spelling mistakes. That’s because regular verbs form the simple past by adding -ed to the simple form of the verb: walk/walked.
You have to watch out when adding the -ed to a verb that ends with a y: change the y to an i before adding the -ed: study/studied, try/tried. If the simple present ends with an e, you just add a d: live/lived.
Irregular verbs, on the other hand, are the source of numerous errors. More on them as we go along.
