TOEFL PREPARATION MODUL from BARRON : Problems with Tenses
*Problems with Tenses
Many grammar books list a large number of tenses in English, but the two basic tenses are present and past.
Auxiliary verbs are used with main verbs to express future and other special times.
5. Irregular Past Forms
Remember that past forms of the following irregular verbs are not the same as the participles:
Verb Word
be beat become
begin bite blow
do draw drink
drive eat fall
fly forget forgive
freeze get give
grow hide know
ride run see
shake show shrink
sing speak steal
swear swim take
tear
weave withdraw write
Past Form
wadwere beat became
began bit blew
broke chose came
did drew drank
drove ate fell
flew forgot forgave
froze got gave
went grew hid
knew rode ran
saw shook showed
shrank sang spoke
stole swore swam
took tore threw
wore wove withdrew
wrote
Participle
been beaten become
begun bitten blown
broken chosen come
done drawn drunk
driven eaten fallen
flown forgotten forgiven
frozen gotten or got given
gone grown hidden
known ridden run
seen shaken shown
shrunk sung spoken
stolen sworn swum
taken torn thrown
worn woven withdrawn
written
S + V (Past) + M
Ex: The concert began at eight o’clock
Avoid using a participle instead of a past for simple past statements.
Example :
· INCORRECT : They done it very well after they had practiced.
CORRECT : They did it very well after they had practiced.
· INCORRECT : Before she run the computer program, she had checked it out with her supervisor.
CORRECT : Before she ran the computer program, she had checked it out with her supervisor.
· INCORRECT : We eat dinner in Albuquerque on our vacation last year.
CORRECT : We & dinner in Albuquerque on our vacation last year.
· INCORRECT : My nephew begun working for me about ten years ago.
CORRECT : My nephew began working for me about ten years ago.
· INCORRECT : I know that you been forty on your last birthday.
CORRECT : I know that you were forty on your last birthday.
Exercise :
Part A: Choose the correct answer.
Before the Angles and the Saxons ... to England, the Iberians had lived there.
a. coming
b. come
c. came
d. did come
Part B: Choose the incorrect word or phrase and correct it.
When Columbus seen(a) the New World, he thought (b) that he had reached (c) the East Indies by way of (d) a Western route.