Page 426 - Practical English Usage 3ed - Michael Swan, Oxford

• IIdl after Idl and ItI
ended /,endIdl started /,sta:tIdl
For adjectives like aged, naked, see 18.
3 spelling of regular affirmative past tense forms
Most regular verbs: add -ed
Verbs ending in -e: add -d
Verbs ending in one stressed vowel + one consonant (except w or y): double the consonant and add -ed
But (last syllable not stressed): Verbs ending in consonant + -y:
change y to i and add -ed
But (vowel + -y):
work - + worked
stay - + stayed
show - + showed wonder -+ wondered visit -+ visited
gallop - + galloped hope -+ hoped
decide - + decided
shop -+ shopped plan -+ planned re'fer -+ referred re'gret - + regretted
past (1): simple past (I worked etc) 421
Verbs ending in -c have ck in the past (e.g. picnic -+ picnicked).
In British English, -1 is doubled in the past after one short vowel even if the vowel is not stressed: 'travel -+ travelled.
4 use
We use the simple past for many kinds of past events: short, quickly finished actions and happenings, longer situations, and repeated events.
Peter broke a window last night.
I spent all my childhood in Scotland. Regularly every summer, Janet fell in love.
The simple past is common in stories and descriptions of past events.
One day the Princess decided that she didn't like staying at home all day, so
site told her father tltat she wanted to get a job . ..
The simple past is often used with words referring to finished times.
I saw John yesterday morning. He told me ...
In general, the simple past tense is the 'normal' one for talking about the past; we use it if we do not have a special reason for using one of the other tenses.
For the simple past with a present or future meaning (e.g. It's time YOII went), see 426. For special uses in subordinate clauses, see 580.
'offer - + 'visit - +
hurry - +
cry -+ cried study -+ studied
play -+ played
offered visited
hurried
page 394