 Multiple variations of past tense that employ regular verbs occur in English. Explanations of the distinctions follow. Note that each section includes examples of positive-declarative, negative-declarative, and interrogative forms. 1. Simple PastA sentence in the simple-past form describes an event that occurred in the past:“They agreed with us.” “They did not agree with us.” “Did they agree with us?” Notice that in the first sentence, the verb form of drive is in past tense, but in the other examples, did does the heavy lifting of indicating the tense, so drive remains in present tense. In almost all other variations of past tense, the form of the verb “to be” and the participle retain the same form regardless of the type of sentence. |
 The English language includes an interesting category of words and phrases called contronyms (also spelled contranyms, or referred to as autoantonyms) — terms that, depending on context, can have opposite or contradictory meanings. When you use these words, be sure the context clearly identifies which meaning is intended: 1. Apology: A statement of contrition for an action, or a defense of one 2. Aught: All, or nothing 3. Bill: A payment, or an invoice for payment 4. Bolt: To secure, or to flee 5. Bound: Heading to a destination, or restrained from movement |
