The Past Simple - Introduction to the tense with an excerpt of A Christmas Carol

The Past Simple Tense

Tense Situation (binary/octet-stream)

Caption: : Do you get the joke?

Read an excerpt of this famous novel. Turn to slide two for some comprehension questions and discussion. The cellar door flew open with a booming sound, and then he heard the noise much louder, on the floors below, then coming up the stairs, then coming straight towards his door.  His colour changed though, when, without a pause, it came on through the heavy door, and passed into the room before his eyes. (...) "I know him! Marley's Ghost!". Though he looked the phantom through and through, and saw it standing before him; though he felt the chilling influence of its death-cold eyes; and marked the very texture of the folded kerchief bound about its head and chin (...); he was still incredulous, and fought against his senses. "How now! said Scrooge, caustic and cold as ever. "What do you want with me?" "Much!" -- Marley's voice, no doubt about it. "Who are you?" "Ask me who I was." "Who were you, then?" Said Scrooge, raising his voice. "In life I was your partner, Jacob Marley." "Can you sit down?" asked Scrooge, looking doubtfully at him. "I can". "Do it, then." Scrooge asked the question, because he didn't know whether a ghost so transparent might find himself in a condition to take a chair; (...) "You don't believe in me," observed the Ghost. "I don't," said Scrooge.

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Caption: : Scrooge and Marley's Ghost in the movie adaptation of A Christmas Carol, filmed in 2009 by Robert Zemeckis.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Do you understand what happened in that scene? Share your ideas with a partner, then discuss with the rest of the class and your teacher. Do not ask or look up meanings of words or phrases. Now look up what half of the underlined words mean. Join a partner and tell him about the meaning of your works. Ask him as well what the other half of the words means. Do they make sense in the context of the sentence? Discuss with the rest of the class and your teacher. Make your own sentence with the phrase "through and through" and another one with the adjective "chilling". Do you understand now the meaning of the text any better? Summarize it in two sentences. 

Comprehension and discussion

Do you believe in ghosts? why/why not? Are you scared of ghosts? why/why not? who do you think Marley is? Why do you think Marley's ghost visits Scrooge? Do you know the plot of "A Christmas Carol?" If so, tell it to your partner. Do you know what other 3 ghosts visit Scrooge during the story? Are you interested in reading this book or watching one of its movie adaptations?

What is the tense and meaning of most of the verbs in the text? What is the present form of the verbs you selected? and the infinitive? Are these regular or irregular verbs? How are they different? Is there any verb in the affirmative form? How do we form affirmative sentences in this tense? Is there any verb in the negative form? How do we form negative sentences in this tense? Look at the question Scrooge asks Marley: "Who were you, then?" What verb is used? in what tense? Does this confirm the structure for question formation you learned earlier in the course?  Why is the author using this tense in his text? 

The cellar door flew open with a booming sound, and then he heard the noise much louder, on the floors below, then coming up the stairs, then coming straight towards his door.  His colour changed though, when, without a pause, it came on through the heavy door, and passed into the room before his eyes. (...) "I know him! Marley's Ghost!". Though he looked the phantom through and through, and saw it standing before him; though he felt the chilling influence of its death-cold eyes; and marked the very texture of the folded kerchief bound about its head and chin (...); he was still incredulous, and fought against his senses. "How now! said Scrooge, caustic and cold as ever. "What do you want with me?" "Much!" -- Marley's voice, no doubt about it. "Who are you?" "Ask me who I was." "Who were you, then?" Said Scrooge, raising his voice. "In life I was your partner, Jacob Marley." "Can you sit down?" asked Scrooge, looking doubtfully at him. "I can". "Do it, then." Scrooge asked the question, because he didn't know whether a ghost so transparent might find himself in a condition to take a chair; (...) "You don't believe in me," observed the Ghost. "I don't," said Scrooge.

Language analysis