Memories of childhood

Memories of childhood

Welcome!

 

The Past:

When talking about your childhood memories you are defintely talking about the past. The past is the time that is finished and not relevant to the present, which is here and now! Please watch the video on childhood memories. In the film the persons use different ways when telling about what they did when they were younger. Most of the time they talk about special memories that happened regularly and in the past. Try to keep track of the different ways and tenses they use. Good luck!

Clip about people being interviewed about their childhood memories

In the video that you have just watched, the people say used to quite often. Used to is used when you are telling about past times in which things happened always.

 

People talking about their childhoodmemories

Okay, now you have watched the video. If you have listened carefully, you might have noticed that the people in the video said "used to" a lot of times. "used to" is a way of saying that in the past they always did some things.  

when you want express a childhood memory in this way, you use: used to + full verb. ( hele werkwoord).

an example: My parents used to go for walks in the wood, but nowadays we go to the gym.

 

The Past Simple:What happened in those days is far from the present

So, after having decided what was usually done in the past we are now going to focus on particular events that happened in the past. When something happened and we know exactly when it happened we use the past tense. So the time of the event is important and it is mentioned.

This is the past simple: the past simple is formed by the full verb + -ed (in case of a regular verb)

                example: I watched a movie last night.

 

Of course, there are exceptions! If a verb:

* ends in an -e                                                              -d is added                          to challenge        challenged

* ends in a consonant (medeklinker) +y,                      -y is replaced by -ied          to dry                  dried

* ends in a short vowel (klinker + consonant)               the consonant is doubled    to slam               slammed                 

*has more syllables (lettergrepen) and end in -l,          -led is added                        to travel              travelled

 

If there are regular verbs then there must be irregular verbs as well: of course they have there own ending:  

 

 

The past simple negative(ontkennend) and interrogative(vragend):

If you want to want to say that something did not happen in the past, the past simple goes as follows:

- did/ didn't + full verb                                          example: He didn't go to the match.

When you want know if he went to the match, you ask the question:

- Did+ subject(onderwerp)+ full verb                      example: Did he go to the match?

 

Facts of history also belong to the past. For example when you wonder how people in early times used to live.

If you would write a report on a history subject then you would use the past simple lots of times. For example: Christopher Columbus discovered a new world in 1492.

The Past Continuous; What was going on?

There is this past tense which tells us that something was going on at a certain moment in the past.: The Past Continuous.

The past continuous is used:

1. To describe a continuing unfinished action in the pas.

example: Whenever I visited him, he was working in his garden.

2. When  a continuing unfinished action is interrupted by a sudden past action.

example:

a. While I was getting ready for bed, the doorbell rang.

b. He wasn't playing a game while he did homework.

 

1. Example: We were watching a film when the neighbour knocked on the door.

In this sentence two things happened, namely:

-The first action that was going on: we were watching a film

-  and the second action that happened suddenly.: the neighbour knocked on the door.

2. Example: he was eating his bread while he watched TV.

This example shows that there were two actions happening at the same time.

This example implies that the second action eating his bread was happening while doing the other action, watching TV.

This past continuous also stresses something that you were doing.

Example: They were dancing at the party for hours.

spelling rules:

a verb ends in a consonant + -e, it is replaced by -ing:

example: to believe becomes believing.

a verb ends in a short vowel (klinker) sound + consonant, the consonant doubles.

example: to get becomes getting.

A verb has more syllables and ends in -l

example: to control, becomes controlling., -ling is added.

The past continuous can be recognized by the words: when and while.

They indicate that two actions were happening:

1. One was going on when the other suddenly happened.

2. Two actions happening at the same time.

If you had 7 points or more, you may go further with the difficult exercises. Otherwise you may watch the "kennisclip".

kennisclip past continuous

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