Coordinación de Inglés

INGLÉS INTERMEDIO I
MATERIAL DE ESTUDIO
SEMANA N°3
UNIDAD DE COMPETENCIA ASOCIADA: Utilizar tiempo presente y pasado para describir
situaciones de nivel básico para comunicarse en un entorno laboral y social con expresiones y
vocabulario afín, de acuerdo con el nivel CEFR A2.

Nombre de la Unidad de Aprendizaje: HOW TO DESCRIBE YOUR WORK

N°2 EXPERIENCES…

Conocimientos Aprendizajes Procedimentales

1. Pasado simple:  Distingue las distintas conjugaciones y usos

del tiempo pasado simple para construir párrafos
 Uso de auxiliar Did breves descriptivos y de uso cotidiano en el entorno
 Verbos regulares e irregulares laboral, según caso dado, de acuerdo al nivel CEFR
 Adverbios de tiempo pasado A2.
(yesterday, ago, last, etc.)
 Preposition of time (from- to, for  Utiliza estructuras gramaticales presentes y
and since). pasadas más complementos gramaticales, de uso
cotidiano en el entorno laboral para redactar
párrafos breves, según caso dado, de acuerdo al
nivel CEFR A2.

Aprendizajes actitudinales:

 Ejecuta su trabajo de forma responsable y

autónoma, en base a una planificación previa.

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UNIT N°2
PAST SIMPLE TENSE

The Simple Past Tense, often just called the Past Tense, is easy to use in English.
If you already know how to use the Present Tense, then the Past Tense will be easy.
In general, the Past Tense is used to talk about something that started and finished at a definite time in the past.

How to form the Past Tense in English

The main rule is that for every verb in English, there is only one form of it in the past tense.
(The exception is the Past tense of To Be, which has two forms: was and were)
In general, the Past Tense is used to talk about something that started and finished at a definite time in the past.
Read the following example:

How to form the Past Tense in English

For example: The past tense of the verb want is wanted.
Wanted is used as the past tense for all subjects/pronouns.

I wanted
You wanted
He wanted
She wanted
It wanted
We wanted
They wanted

So, you just have to learn one word to be able to use it in the past tense. In this case we just needed to learn the
one word wanted which can be used for all subjects (or people).

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PAST TENSE REGULAR VERBS
To change a regular verb into its past tense form, we normally add –ED to the end of the verb.

 PLAY – PLAYED
 COOK – COOKED
 RAIN – RAINED
 WAIT – WAITED

There are some exceptions with a slight change in spelling which you can see here:
Spelling of words ending in ED.
SIMPLE PAST SPELLING

INFINITIVE PAST SPELLING

WATCH WATCHED ADD - ED
PLAY PLAYED
LIKE LIKED ADD –D AFTER – E
STUDY STUDIED NO Y ADD – IED AFTER CONSONANT + Y
STOP STOPPED DOUBLE CONSONANT ADD –ED AFTER CONS-VOWEL-CONS

Examples of sentences using regular verbs in the past tense

 Last night I played my guitar loudly and the neighbors complained.

 It rained a lot yesterday.
 Angela watched TV all night.
 John wanted to go to the museum.

Negative sentences in the Past Tense

We use didn't (did not) to make a negative sentence in the past tense.
This is for regular AND irregular verbs in English.
Compare the following:

Present: They don't live in Canada.

Past: They didn't live in Canada.

The main verb (live in the example above) is in its base form (of the infinitive). The auxiliary DIDN'T shows that
the sentence is negative AND in the past tense.

NOTICE: The only difference between a negative sentence in the present tense and a negative sentence
in the past tense is the change in the auxiliary verb.
Both don't and doesn't in the present tense become didn't in the past tense.

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Compare the negative sentences in the examples below:

Present: You don't need a mechanic.

Past: You didn't need a mechanic.
Present: You don't walk to work.
Past: You didn't walk to work.
Present: He doesn't speak Japanese.
Past: He didn't speak Japanese.
Examples of negative sentences in the Past Tense

 I didn't want to go to the dentist.

 She didn't have time to go out.
 You didn't close the door and the dog run away.
 He didn't come to my party, He was at work.
 They didn't study so they didn't pass the test.
 We didn't sleep well last night.

Questions in the Past Tense

We use did to make a question in the past tense.
This is for regular AND irregular verbs in English.

Compare the following:

Present: Do they live in France?
Past: Did they live in France?

The main verb (live in the example above) is in its base form (of the infinitive). The auxiliary DID shows that the
question is in the past tense.
NOTICE: The only difference between a question in the present tense and a question in the past tense
is the change in the auxiliary verb.
Both Do and Does in present tense questions become Didn't in past tense questions.

Compare the questions in the examples below:

Present: Do you need a doctor?
Past: Did you need a doctor?
Present: Do you ride your bike to work?
Past: Did you ride your bike to work?
Present: Does he live in Italy?
Past: Did he live in Italy?

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We can also use a question word (Who, What, Why, etc.) before DID to ask for more information.

 Did you study? – Yes, I did.

 When did you study? – I studied last night.
 Where did you study? – I studied at the library.

Examples of Questions in the Past Tense

 Did you go to work yesterday?

 Did they arrive on time?
 Did she like the surprise?
 Where did she go?
 What did you do yesterday?
 What did you say? - I didn't say anything.
 Why did we have to come?

Read more about short answers in the past tense.

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IRREGULAR VERBS IN THE PAST TENSE

For example: The past tense of GO is WENT.

It does not end in –ED so it is considered irregular.
The word went is used for all subjects – I, you, we, they, he, she, it.

 I went to the beach

 He went to the park.
 She went to the zoo.
 They went to the library.

BUT, as we mentioned before, it is only in its irregular form (went) in sentences that are affirmative /
positive.
Compare the following using GO in the past tense.

They went to the beach

They didn't go to the beach Didn't = Shows that we are talking in the past tense.

Did they go to the beach? Did = Shows that we are talking in the past tense.

Verbs that have the same form in Present and Past form:

PRESENT PAST SIMPLE

BET BET
BROADCAST BROADCAST
CUT CUT
HIT HIT
HURT HURT
LET LET
PUT PUT
QUIT QUIT
READ READ
SET SET
SHUT SHUT
SPREAD SPREAD

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COMMON IRREGULAR VERBS LIST

INFINITIVE PAST EXAMPLE

BE WAS /WERE We were at the office all day yesterday.
BEGIN BEGAN Last year, we began to export to Brazil.
BREAK BROKE I broke my arm in an accident.
BRING BROUGHT They brought the new design from Europe.
BUY BOUGHT The owner bought a new building
DO DID They had a problem but they did nothing about it.
DRINK DRANK He drank a lot of water after the match.
DRIVE DROVE We drove very fast to the airport.
EAT ATE We ate a paella by the beach
FIND FOUND I finally found my keys.
FLY FLEW We flew to Buenos Aires last summer.
FORGET FORGOT I forgot my ID at home.
GET GOT She got a lot of present for her birthday.
GIVE GAVE I gave her a big bug for her promotion.
GO WENT I went to work by bus yesterday.
HAVE HAD I had many books as a child.
KNOW KNEW We knew that it was a good campaign.
LOSE LOST He lost his wallet at the airport.
MAKE MADE They made a cake for the party.
MEET MET I met my boss at a business conference.
PAY PAID She paid a lot for that laptop.
PUT PUT They put all their efforts in the project.
READ READ I read the report and the sales numbers are great.
RUN RAN When the fire started, we ran.
SAY SAID She said it was a great company.
SEE SAW We saw all the new product last week.
SELL SOLD Peter sold all his stocks.
SEND SENT People sent a lot of letters in the past.
SING SANG Everybody sang “happy birthday” to her.
SIT SAT We sat at the sand and looked at the see.
SLEEP SLEPT I only slept four hours last night.
SPEAK SPOKE We spoke to our colleagues at the meeting.
SPEND SPENT The company spent a lot of money in the new cars.
SWIM SWAM He swam happy in the river.
TAKE TOOK Somebody took my things.
TEACH TAUGHT She taught me how to save time and money.
TELL TOLD I told him to go home, he looked sick.
THINK THOUGHT We thought it was a great idea.
UNDERSTAND UNDERSTOOD I understood their decision.
WEAR WORE Sara wore a beautiful red dress at the party.
WIN WON Who won the match?
WRITE WROTE I wrote an e-mail to the manager.
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TIME EXPRESSION FOR PAST SIMPLE TENSE:

LAST (= PASADO/ AGO (= HACE) YESTERDAY (= AYER)

PASADA)
LAST Night. 10 minutes AGO. YESTERDAY.
LAST Week. An hour AGO. YESTERDAY Morning.
LAST Weekend. 3 days AGO. YESTERDAY Afternoon.
LAST Month. A week AGO. YESTERDAY Evening.
LAST Year. A Month AGO. The day before YESTERDAY
LAST Monday. A year AGO.

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SUMMARY

REMEMBER:

The past simple tense is used to talk about:

 Finished actions in the past.

 Habits in the past.
 Past facts.
 Periods of time in the past.

To make an affirmative sentence in past simple

PRONOUN + VERB IN PAST + COMPLEMENT

Examples:

 I visited London last week.

 He wore glasses when he was young.
 Mary lived in Paris for six months.

PAST SIMPLE AFFIRMATIVE FORM:

Regular past simple verbs end with "–ed".

I walked to the office.

You played chess.
He / She / It laughed.
We washed the car.
They (worry=) worried all day.

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Irregular past simple verbs are different!

I fell off the wall.

You forgot the keys.
He / She / It left work early.
We
They bought some new clothes.

Practice:

a) I ____________ (go) to a seminar yesterday.

b) We ___________ (stay) in an apartment in Valparaiso.

c) Bob _________ (travel) to the meeting by train.

d) I _________ (hear) the news on the radio.

PAST SIMPLE NEGATIVE:

To make a negative sentence we use

Pronoun + "didn't (did not)" + the verb in infinitive form (without "to")

For example:

I buy any new shoes.

You go to work yesterday.
He / She / It DIDN'T
We play soccer last night.
They

Practice:

a) Sarah _______________ (win) the sales price.

b) We _________________ (have) any coffee yesterday.

c) They _____________ (know) about the incident.

d) I ____________ (need) help with the project.

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PAST SIMPLE QUESTIONS

To make a question we use:

"DID" + PRONOUN + THE INFINITIVE OF THE MAIN VERB (WITHOUT "TO") + COMPLEMENT

Did you ask her to the party? Yes, I did. / No, I didn't (did not).
Did he visit the office yesterday? Yes, he did. / No, he didn't (did not).
Did they buy a new house? Yes, they did. / No, they didn't (did not).

Practice:

a) ________you _________the quiz? (complete)

b) ________he __________ you? (call)

c) _______they _______your clients? (meet)

d) _______the film _____ late? (finish)

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PAST SIMPLE ACTIVITIES

1. Complete the sentences in Simple Past of the verbs in brackets:

a) Our company ________ (start) business in 1995.

b) We __________ (order) the goods two months ago.

c) I ________ (send) you the letter last week.

d) We _________ (receive) your order yesterday.

e) The postman ________ (come) in, and __________ (give) me the documents.

f) When I ____________ (arrive), Anne was talking on the phone.

g) I _____________ (get / not) your invoice yesterday.

h) Mister O'Brian ____________ (be / not) in the office last week.

i) ___________ (Sarah / go) to the trade fair on Thursday?

j) ______________ (you / call) me ten minutes ago?

2. Complete Lisa´s journey to Madrid, put the verbs in the correct form:

Last Tuesday Lisa 1 flew from London to Madrid. She 2 fly,

_________up at 6 ó clock in the morning and 3 __________ a cup get, have
of coffee. At 6:30 she 4_________ home and 5 __________ to the leave, drive
airport. When she 6 ____________ there, she 7 ________ the car, get, park
8
___________ to the airport and 9 ____________ in. Then she walk, check
10
__________ breakfast at the café and 11 ___________ for her have, wait
flight. The plane 12 ___________ on time and She 13___________ depart, arrive
in Madrid two hours later. Finally, she 14 ________ a taxi from the take
airport to her hotel in the city center.

3. Write 4 sentences about what you did yesterday:

a) ______________________________________________
b) ______________________________________________
c) ______________________________________________
d) ______________________________________________

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4. Complete the text with the past simple of the verbs in the boxes:

HEWLETT- PACKARD – The early years 1938- 1960

The 1930´s The 1940s
Income (1930): $5,369. Employees : 2 Income (1949): $2.2 million. Employees : 166
GRADUATE- DECIDE- STUDY ADD – ORDER - START
Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard studied Hewlett- Packard 10_______ many new products
1

at Stanford University. When they 2 to their range, and when the

3 Second World War 11_______, the US government
_______, they _______to start a
12
business. _______ large quantities of electronic
equipment.
RENT – WORK – MOVE The 1950s
Income (1959): $ 48 million.Employees: 2,378
4
In 1938, Dave _______ in to an MANUFACTURE – EXPAND - ENTER
apartment in Palo Alto, California and In the 1950s, Hewlett-Packard 13_______ rapidly
Bill 5_______ a small house at the back. in the USA and Europe. In 1958, they first
They 6_______ in a small garage in the 14_______ the printers market after taking over FL
garden. Moseley, a company that 15_______ graphic
plotters.
CALL – DESIGN - USE
7
They _______their first product which
they 8_______ the HP200A.
Walt Disney engineers 9_______ the
HP200A to test sound equipment in
cinemas showing Fantasia.

REMEMBER:

AFFIRMATIVE SENTENCES NEGATIVE SENTECES

Subject + Base form of the verb + d / ed Subject + Did + not + Based form of the verb

I I
She WORKED yesterday. She DID NOT WORK yesterday.
He He DIDN´T
It It
You You
We We
They They

Note: Use the simple past to talk about events that happened and are now finished.

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5. Complete the blanks with the negative past tense form of the verbs in parentheses.

John wanted to a promotion. But instead his manager fired him. John was a bad employee.

a) He _______ _______ (arrive) on time for work.

b) He _______ _______ (work) hard.
c) He _______ _______ (listen) to his manager.
d) He _______ _______ (ask) any questions.
e) He _______ _______ (fix) problems.
f) He _______ _______ (finish) his work.

6. Complete the paragraph with the past tense form of the verbs in parentheses:

AFFIRMATIVE SENTENCES NEGATIVE SENTECES

Subject + Past form of the verb Subject + Did + not + Based form of the verb

I I
She ATE a delicious She Did not EAT a delicious
He dinner last He Didn´t dinner last
It night It night
You You
We We
They They

Note: Irregular verbs DO NOT have the ed ending in the past tense.
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7. Reading: Anita Roddick “The Body Shop”:

A Success Story
Anita Roddick is the founder of the company called The
Body Shop. Anita began with one store. She opened
her store in England in 1976.
The store sold beauty products. She did not have any
business experience, but she had good ideas. She
made natural products. She put the products in special
containers, so people could recycle them. She sold
products with no advertising. The Body Shop became
an international success. There are now over 1,980
Body Shop stores in 49 countries. The company has
more than 77 million customers worldwide.

8. Look at the reading “A Success Story.” Fill in each blank with the past tense of one of the
verbs in the box:

Anita Roddick is the founder of The Body Shop. Roddick 1 began with one store. Begin
She 2____________ the store in England in 1976. The store 3____________ Become
beauty products. She 4____________ good ideas. The Body Shop Have
5____________an international success. Open
Sell

9. Read the text below. Change the PAST SIMPLE POSITIVE TO NEGATIVE. Then make the
negatives positive:

New products were cheap to develop. We spent a lot of money on research. Our market share
increased in the early 2015. The company made many good products.
Acme didn´t buy the company. There wasn´t a big change in the organization.
The management didn´t want to change everything. Most of the old management didn´t leave.
Things didn´t improve. Now, we are very optimistic.

a)

b)

c)

d)

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10. Look at the delivery schedule for an order with Interfood, a Dutch frozen foods company.
Unfortunately, the order went wrong: on January 15th, Interfood didn´t prepared the order.
Complete the sentences below. Write what did not happen.

Delivery schedule for Espofrigo S.A, Vitoria, Spain

Order number: ESP325/0797
January 15th Prepare order
January 16 th Send goods to Rotterdam Warehouse by train
January 17 th Load goods into ship to Bilbao
January 18th Goods arrive to Bilbao. Carretera Transportes take goods by truck to
Victoria.
January 19 th Espofrigo to confirm arrival

a) On January 15th, interfood didn´t prepare the order

b) On the next day they _________________________________________
c) On January 17th they _________________________________________
d) On the next day the goods _________________________________________
e) Carretera Transportes _________________________________________
f) So, Espofrigo _________________________________________

11. Complete the dialogue with the correct form of BE or HAVE:

A: Jane, it's nice to see you back. How 1______ (be) your trip to Argentina?
B: It 2____________ (be) fine thanks.
A: 3_______ ________ (you / have) a lot of meetings?
B: Yes, I 4 ____________ (have) one every day, and my meetings with Maria
5
____________ (be) very successful.
A: Oh, good! The last time she 6____________ (be) in Chile, she seemed interested
in the dealership. But what about Marco? 7_______ _______ (you/have) any
meetings with him?
B: No, I 8_______ _______ (not/have) the chance to see him or his manager.
They 9__________ (not/be) in the office when I called. They 10__________ (be) in
Peru.

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12. A manager returns from a trip and asks her assistant about yesterday. Write questions
for the items below. Use the words in brackets:

Mr. Fish phoning about the order

a) (The maintenance team/ repair / the d) (Mr. Fish/ phone?)

copier? ______________________________________

URGENT: Caracas Report.

John: Please read inmediately. VISA APLICATION

b) (John/ read / the Caracas report?)

___________________________________
e) (You/send / the VISA application?)
_________________________________________

Write to King Philip Hotel Lirish Ltd. to collect order.

Pay on collection.
c) ( you/ write/ to the King Philip
hotel) f) (Larish Ltd/ Collect their order? / They
/pay? )
_________________________________________ _________________________________________
_________________________________________

13. Complete the information about the sales figures with the past form of the verbs on the
right:

Last year´s overall sales figures 1WERE excellent for Nielsen Electronics. In Be
January, they 2_____________the RU20 Power Bank and sales Introduce
3_____________up from 2,000 to 2,500 units the next month. In March, sales Go
4_____________3,500 units.
Reach
Stay
Sales then 5_____________ at the same level through the next quarter, but Continue
they 6_____________to go up in July and August, when they Increase
7_____________to 4,000 units. Want
Delay
Nielsen 8_____________to launch their new DCC-300 Solar Power Bank, in Launch
September, but production problems 9_____________the introduction of Go
this new model. Be
So, Nielsen 10_____________it at the end of October. Overall sales Grow
11_____________in November but at the end of December they were at 3,800 Reach
units.
However, the DCC-300 Solar Power Bank 12_____________very popular and
the overall volume of sales 13_____________until the end of the year when
it 14_____________ 4,500 units.

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14. Write the simple past form of the verbs in parentheses:

a) It wasn’t until 1998 that they ____________ (begin) to diversify their product line.

b) Many companies _______ (bid) on the project.

c) Sam _______ (wear) a blue suit with a red tie.

d) Our manager ________ (tell) us how to handle the situation.

e) Dave and I _______ (meet) when we were seniors in college.

f) The ad campaign _______ (lead) to a 20% increase in sales.

g) I _______ (leave) the office at 9 o’clock last night.

h) The economy _______ (grow) by less than 1% last year.

i) John _______ (bring) his wife and son to the company picnic.

j) After several hours, Logan finally _______ (find) the info he was looking for.

k) His attitude _______ (hurt) his chances of being promoted.

l) Larry _______ (teach) a couple of university courses last year.

15. Choose 6 sentences from exercise II and rewrite them in interrogative and negative form:

Int:
Neg:

Int:
Neg:

Int:
Neg:

Int:
Neg:

Int:
Neg:

Int:
Neg:

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PAST TIME REFERENCES
Some prepositions of time refer only to the past:

 The special deals ended two month ago.

 Last week, we sold 500 units, which is a record for us.
But the prepositions in, on from, to for and during often refer to periods of time in the past:

IN Months/ years  I went to a business trip in August.

 He moved to Santiago in 1999

ON Dates / days  The good left the warehouse on 9th April.

 The offer finished on Monday.

FROM …TO Beginning and end of  The worked on the sales campaign from
a period February to March.

FOR A period of time  He worked in the company for five years.

DURING At some point in a  During October, we reached our sales target

period for a year.

Underline the correct words to complete this article:

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