Simple past tense pronunciation (/t/, /d/, /id/)

Sample conversation:

Billy: Hi, Jane, how was your weekend?

Jane: I had a great weekend.

Billy:  What did you do?

Jane: On Saturday morning, I worked out at the gym.  On Saturday afternoon, I went shopping.

Billy: What did you buy?

Jane: I bought a dress and a football.  On Saturday, night I made dinner for some friends.

Billy: What did you make?

Jane: I made some potato soup.  It was delicious.  After dinner, we went dancing.  It was a lot of fun.  On Sunday, I got up early and went to church.  Then I cleaned the house.  In the afternoon, I watched movie. How about you Billy, how was your weekend?

Billy: Not bad, On Saturday morning, I played bowling with my friends.  On Saturday night, I watched TV and talked on the telephone with few friends.  On Sunday, I painted my bedroom and read the newspaper.  At night, I decided to make dinner.

Jane: That was a busy weekend.

/d/                                            /t/                                                         /id/

cleaned                                   worked                                               painted

played                                     watched                                             ended

returned                                  kissed                                                 needed

retired                                     hoped                                                 visited

loved                                      axed                                                   visited

Present Perfect with “ever” and “never”

Sample dialogue

A: Have you ever been to China?

B: No. I’ve never been there. But I’d like to go.  What about you? Have you been?

A: Yes, I have.  I went last year.

B: did you visit the Great Wall of China?

A: Yes, I did. I’ve travelled all over China and it was great. Which country have you been to?

B: I’ve been to Singapore.  I’ve visited Sentosa and Singapore Zoo.  It’s a small country.

A: I’ve been to Singapore too.

Grammar Booster:

“Ever” is often use to make questions in the present perfect tense.  We are asking if something has happened at any time in the past up to now.

Ex. Have you ever been to Japan?

      Has Sally ever told you the story about China?

     Have you ever eaten  strange food?

     Has she met the teacher?

For negative sentences of this kind we use “never”

    No, I have never been to Japan. / No, I've never been to Japan.

We do not use “ever” in a positive sentence. 

 Sally has ever been to China. (X-wrong)

  Sally has been to China. ( correct)

Present Perfect =   subject   +  has/have   +  V3    

Questions Tags Exercises

1.     He's waiting for you, __________?

2.     There are twelve months in a year, ______________?

3.      I'm not fat,  ___________________?

4.      These site is cool,  ________________?

5.      We all want to learn English, ______________________?

6.      Happylong wasn't in his office yesterday,  __________________?

7.      My room is quite small , ______________________?

8.      The idea is interesting, ______________________?

9.      There were a lot of books on the table, _____________________?

10 The text isn't clear, _____________________?

11  I am patient, __________________?

Make and Let

Let (permission)

Example: My sister lets her children do whatever they like.

                   I don’t let my students write in Chinese.

                  She lets her students come up on the stage.

            Subject + let + object + base form

    

Make (Obligation)

Example :  My mother makes me clean my room every week.

                    They made me sing yesterday.

                   Teachers make their students do their homework every day.

Subject + make + object + base form