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Past tense/infinitive
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Message from cooldj85 posted on 28-01-2013 at 10:10:01 (D | E | F)
Hello,
Could you help me please?
Why, in some cases we do not use the 3rd form of the verbs in past simple sentences.
For example,
Did your mother drive< you to school?
In the above example we are using "Drive" instead of "Drove".
Please, explain if there is any reason for that
Thank you for your answers.
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Edited by lucile83 on 28-01-2013 12:14
Message from cooldj85 posted on 28-01-2013 at 10:10:01 (D | E | F)
Hello,
Could you help me please?
Why, in some cases we do not use the 3rd form of the verbs in past simple sentences.
For example,
Did your mother drive< you to school?
In the above example we are using "Drive" instead of "Drove".
Please, explain if there is any reason for that
Thank you for your answers.
-------------------
Edited by lucile83 on 28-01-2013 12:14
Re: Past tense/infinitive from gerondif, posted on 28-01-2013 at 10:52:16 (D | E)
Hello,
it is a simple rule of conjugation:
When you put a verb into the preterite it is either:
regular: I walked to town yesterday.
or irregular: I drove to town yesterday!
A lexical verb is unable to do an interrogative or negative form by itself, the auxiliary do (preterite did) will come and help him:
Did you........ as soon as you say this, we know you are talking about the past, so the verb needn't bear a second mark of the past, it will be used in its simple form, the base form, the infinitive without the "to"
Did you walk to town ?
Did you drive to town ?
Compare the answers:
Yes, I did
Yes, I walked to town
Yes, I drove to town.
No, I didn't.
No, I didn't walk to town.
Non I didn't drive to town.
in the long negative form, did is in the preterite, the verb isn't.
It is the same thing for your question.
The same rule applied to the simple present ! Does he drive to school ? Yes, he drives to school!
Re: Past tense/infinitive from stephanieanna, posted on 28-01-2013 at 11:18:56 (D | E)
Hello,
Yes, I would agree.
When you use "did" you are already indicating that you are referring to the past, and you don't need to indicate it again by saying "drove."
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Edited by lucile83 on 28-01-2013 12:20
Re: Past tense/infinitive from lucile83, posted on 28-01-2013 at 12:23:29 (D | E)
Hello,
You can read a lot of lessons here
Link
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