Final -ed: Simple Past Tense

Application 4

Instructions The paragraph below is from the same essay on karate as the paragraphs you read earlier in Application 1, but here the verbs have been switched to present tense. After each present tense verb, there is a space in which you can replace the verb with the simple past form to restore the paragraph to its original time framework. The incident which convinces me to learn martial arts happens when I am in the Navy. Walking back to my ship with two friends one night, I notice some guys ahead of us who start making some stupid, drunken remarks. I realize immediately that these people are fairly intoxicated, and I try to ignore their antics. But one of my buddies is pretty drunk himself, and he decides not to let his friends be badgered by anyone. So he responds with his own nasty comments. This continues as we approach our ship. Now the gentlemen ahead of us stop and wait for us to reach them. They begin to zero in on my drunken buddy, who just becomes more agitated. My sober friend and I are trying to talk our drunken friend out of a confrontation when suddenly, out of the blue, I feel myself taking a couple of steps backward. I have been sucker-punched for no reason! Of course, this annoys me and I tackle my opponent. I'm not a good fighter, so I just want to hold him back from hitting me again. The fight is broken up by the quarterdeck personnel. Now read the new version of this paragraph aloud, emphasizing the -ed endings.

CONTENTS MAIN PAGE 10.1 Pretest 10.2 Your Writing 10.3 Recognizing Final -ed 10.4 Simple Past Tense 10.5 Perfect Tenses 10.6 Passive Voices 10.7 Past Participles that Act as Modifiers 10.8 Avoiding Incorrect -ed Endings 10.9 Review & Practice Part 1 10.9 Review & Practice Part 2 10.10 Fun With Grammar 10.11 Return to Your Writing 10.12 Mastery Test