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English Conversation Practice Exercise – Going by Taxi

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Welcome, language learners! Today’s lesson is an exciting dive into understanding active and passive voice in English, specifically focusing on the simple past tense. Mastering the active and passive constructions in the past tense is crucial for expressing ideas and events effectively. In this tutorial, we’ll explore the concept of active and passive voice, accompanied by clear examples in the simple past tense. By the end, you’ll confidently wield these structures to enhance your English language skills!  English speaking course?

Forms Of Verb: Voice ( Simple Past )

In the simple past tense, verbs can be used in both active and passive voices. Here’s an overview of how verbs take forms in active and passive voices in the simple past:
Active Voice:
In the simple past active voice, regular verbs take the following form:

  1. Regular Verbs:
  2. Verb + “-ed” (for regular verbs)
    Example:
    • She played the piano.
    •  They visited the museum.

Irregular verbs, however, have specific past tense forms, which don’t follow the regular “-ed”
pattern:

Irregular Verbs:

    •  Examples:
      •  He went to the store. (Past of “go”)
      • She ate lunch. (Past of “eat”)

Passive Voice:
In the simple past passive voice, verbs follow this structure:

  1.  Passive Voice:
    • Was/Were + Verb (past participle form) + by + Subject (optional)
    • Example:
      • The letter was sent yesterday.
    • The book was read by her.

In passive voice, the action is emphasized rather than the doer of the action. The past participle form of the verb is used with “was” (for singular) or “were” (for plural) to create the passive voice in the simple past tense.
Understanding how verbs change in the active and passive voices in the simple past tense is essential for constructing accurate sentences and conveying ideas effectively.
In English, particularly in the simple past tense, the rule for regular verbs is to add “-ed” to the base form of the verb to create the past tense. The sound produced by adding “-ed” varies based on the ending sound of the base verb. 

Rule for Pronouncing “-ed” in Simple Past Tense:
  1. If the base verb ends in:
    •  Voiceless sounds (like /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, /s/, etc.): The “-ed” is pronounced as /t/.
    • Example: jump → jumped (/t/ sound)
      •  Voiced sounds (like /b/, /d/, /g/, /v/, /z/, etc.): The “-ed” is pronounced as /d/.
        • Example: grab → grabbed (/d/ sound)
          • Sounds ending in /t/ or /d/: The “-ed” is pronounced as /ɪd/.
          • Example: want → wanted (/ɪd/ sound)
Pronunciation Examples:
  1.  /t/ Sound:
  2. Walk → Walked (/t/ sound at the end)
  3. /d/ Sound:
  4. Live → Lived (/d/ sound at the end)
  5. /ɪd/ Sound:
  6. Need → Needed (/ɪd/ sound at the end)
Understanding the pronunciation of regular verbs in the simple past tense is essential for accurate spoken English, ensuring that the correct ending sound is produced based on the verb’s base form. Here are more examples of regular verbs in the simple past tense, along with their pronunciation guide in English and Hindi: English Examples with Pronunciation Guide: 1. Talk → Talked
  • Pronunciation: /tɔːk/ → /tɔːkt/
  • Watch → Watched
  • Pronunciation: /wɒtʃ/ → /wɒtʃt/
  •  Play → Played
  • Pronunciation: /pleɪ/ → /pleɪd/
Work → Worked
  •  Pronunciation: /wɜːrk/ → /wɜːrkt/
Help → Helped
  •  Pronunciation: /help/ → /helpt/
Hindi Translations:
  1.  बात करना → बात की (Baat karna → Baat ki)
  2. देखना → देखी (Dekhna → Dekhi)
  3. खेलना → खेला (Khelna → Khela)
  4. काम करना → काम किया (Kaam karna → Kaam kiya)
  5. मदद करना → मदद की (Madad karna → Madad ki) The pronunciation guide provides the English pronunciation of the base verb and its past tense form, while the Hindi translations showcase the past tense form of the verb.