NYC Educator: There Is No Past. There Is No Future. But I'm Putting It on the Test Anyway.

NYC Educator: There Is No Past. There Is No Future. But I'm Putting It on the Test Anyway.:

There Is No Past. There Is No Future. But I'm Putting It on the Test Anyway.

by NYC Educator

We have seasons, and a new one just began. But in my beginning ESL class, it's past tense season. Past tense in English is no walk in the park. There are dozens of irregular verbs, and they're among the most-used verbs in our language. We went to the park, sawthe ducks on the pond, ate a pretzel, and drank some water.

On the positive side, you don't need to conjugate past tense in English. That is, I, you, he, she, they, we and it all had a nice day. There is no annoying s to place at the end of the verb, and you don't need to wonder whether it's s or es, unless you're Dan Quayle correcting a young student's correct spelling of potato.

On the other hand, while I went to the movies, I didn't go to the restaurant. Did you go to the park? Why, after I