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The simple past, past simple, or past indefinite, in English equivalent to the preterite, is the basic form of the past tense in Modern English. It is used principally to describe events in the past, although it also has some other uses. [ 1] Regular English verbs form the simple past in -ed; however, there are a few hundred irregular verbs ...
The past tense is a grammatical tense whose function is to place an action or situation in the past. Examples of verbs in the past tense include the English verbs sang, went and washed. Most languages have a past tense, with some having several types in order to indicate how far back the action took place.
The past tense (simple past or past progressive) of the condition clause is historically the past subjunctive. In modern English this is identical to the past indicative , except in the first and third persons singular of the verb be , where the indicative is was and the subjunctive were ; was is sometimes used as a colloquialism ( were ...
A passive voice construction is a grammatical voice construction that is found in many languages. [ 1] In a clause with passive voice, the grammatical subject expresses the theme or patient of the main verb – that is, the person or thing that undergoes the action or has its state changed. [ 2] This contrasts with active voice, in which the ...
Pro rata is an adverb or adjective meaning in equal portions or in proportion. [1] The term is used in many legal and economic contexts. The hyphenated spelling pro-rata for the adjective form is common, as recommended for adjectives by some English-language style guides.
The simple past is used when the event is conceived as occurring at a particular time in the past, or during a period that ended in the past (i.e. it does not last up until the present time). This time frame may be explicitly stated, or implicit in the context (for example the past tense is often used when describing a sequence of past events).
In the indicative example, the bolded words are present tense forms. In the counterfactual example, both words take their past tense form. This use of the past tense cannot have its ordinary temporal meaning, since it can be used with the adverb "tomorrow" without creating a contradiction. [25] [26] [27] [28]
Infinitive ( abbreviated INF) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages. The name is derived from Late Latin [modus] infinitivus, a derivative of infinitus meaning "unlimited".