Past Indefinite Tense in English Grammar
Learn Formation of Past Indefinite Tense:
A sentence related to past that reports an action or chain of incidents etc. is called past indefinite tense:
a) He went to school. ( It reports went to school, an incident)
b) I did my work. (It shows an incident)
c) The teachers fulfilled their commitment. ( Here, usual response of teachers is reported)
What do we need to remember here?
We use 2nd form of verb in Past Indefinite Tense. There is no helping verb in simple sentences, however, interrogatives and negatives do take helping verb do.
Interrogative and Negative Formation of Past Indefinite Tense:
Do is used as a helping verb to form negative or interrogative sentences; however, it is quite interesting that do is also a verb which may take different forms. We also know that form of verb cannot be changed twice in a single clause, therefore; we may change form of the verb which comes first in a given clause.
1) He did not go to school. ( Change in verb form)
2) Teachers did not fulfill their commitment. (Change in verb form i.e. 2nd form of verb is used with do the verb which comes first and not the verb fulfill which comes latter to that.
The same rule is applied to interrogative sentences of this tense:
Did he go to school?
Did teachers fulfill their commitment?
