Past Simple

Article excerpt · target grammar marked

When Ek tried to get music labels on board, most of them refused. They did not trust a young man with a laptop and a big idea. One meeting in London ended badly — a senior executive stood up, said "no", and walked out. Ek did not give up.

Grammar Reference · Past Simple

Positive form

Subject + past verb. Regular verbs add -ed. Ek started Spotify in 2006. He flew to London. Irregular verbs change form.

Negative form

Subject + did not + base form. The labels did not agree at first. Never use past verb after did not.

Question form

Did + subject + base form. Did Ek give up after London? Short answer: Yes, he did. / No, he didn't.

Common error

Never add did with a past verb. He did went ✗ → He went ✓. He didn't went ✗ → He didn't go ✓.

01Exercise 1 — Form · Write the Correct Form

Past Simple

1.Ek (be) only 23 years old when he started Spotify.

2.People (download) music illegally before Spotify existed.

3.The music industry (lose) a lot of money every year.

4.Ek (not / give up) after the executive walked out.

5.He (fly) back to Stockholm and changed his offer.

6.Spotify (open) to the public for the first time in 2008.

02Exercise 2 — Find and Correct the Error

find the error · rewrite the sentence

1.Ek did believed he could fix the problem.

2.The labels did not trusted him at first.

3.Did Spotify launched in Europe in 2008?

4.He flyed back to Stockholm after the meeting.

5.The executive stood up and sayed no.

6.Ek didn't gave up after the rejection.

7.They agreed to worked with Spotify in the end.

8.Spotify become very popular in Silicon Valley.

03Exercise 3 — About You

in your notebook

Personalise: complete five sentences about yourself using the target grammar.

Past Simple01classplan.ai