IV. The use of the Past Indefinite

Negative

Affirmative Interrogative

I worked (wrote) Did I work (write)?

He worked (wrote) Did he work (write)?

She worked (wrote) Did she work (write)?

We worked (wrote) Did we work (write)?

You worked (wrote) Did you work (write)?

They worked (wrote) Did they work (write)?

I did not work (write)

He did not work (write)

She did not work (write)

We did not work (write)

You did not work (write)

They did not work (write)

3. The contracted negative forms are:

I didn't work.

She didn't work.

4. The negative-interrogative forms are:

Did you not work?

Didn't you work?

The Past Indefinite denotes an action performed within a period of time which is already over. The action is cut off from the pres­ent. The time of the action may be indicated by adverbials of past time, such as yesterday, a week ago, last year, etc.

The sun came out a moment ago.

Miss Helstone stayed the whole evening. (Ch. Bronte)

Ellean breakfasted two hours ago, and then went out walking with the dog. (Pinero)

The Past Indefinite can correspond to the Russian past perfec­tive and past imperfective (совершенный и несовершенный вид).

Не smoked a cigarette and left the room (выкурил). He smoked in silence for a few minutes (курил).

The translation depends on the context and the lexical char­acter of the verb.

The Past Indefinite is used to denote:

(a) an action performed in the past.

We entered Farmer Ridley's meadow in silence. (Marryat)

(b) a succession of past actions.

In this case the Past Indefinite is rendered in Russian by the past perfective.

He threw down his spade and entered the house. (Ch. Bronte) Он бросил лопату и пошел в дом.

(c) repeated actions in the past.

In this case the Past Indefinite is rendered in Russian by the past imperfective.

He made an entry in his diary every night. (Bennett) Каждый вечер он делал запись в дневнике.

Note: Repeated actions are often expressed by used to + Infinitive and would+ Infinitive. Used to is more colloquial and would is more lit­erary.

Every afternoon, when the children came from school, they used to go and play in the Giant's garden. (Wilde) When fits of melancholy came upon htm, he would spend all days locked in his room. (E. Bronte)

Sometimes used to does not denote repeated actions, but actions char­acterizing a person or actions or states which lasted a long time.

The Reed used to like the rain. (Wilde)

There used to be an old oak-tree near the house.

THE FUTURE INDEFINITE

V. The formation of the Future Indefinite.

1.The Future Indefinite is formed by means of the auxiliary verbs shall and will and the infinitive without to of the notional verb.

In grammar books they generally say that shall is used for the first person singular and plural and will is used for the second and third persons singular and plural. However, in Modern English we can observe the tendency to use will for all persons in all the Future Tenses.

2. In the interrogative form the auxiliary verb is placed before
the subject.

In the negative form the negative particle not is placed after the auxiliary verb.

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