Information sheet : TALKING ABOUT THE PAST ( Reporting ) MASTERS 1 2012 THO

Reporting is a key business communication activity
Very often you have to describe what happened in the past : telling your colleagues about a meeting , writing a monthly report for your boss etc

To describe the past you need to use time indicators ( moments and periods ) and verbs in the appropriate tense . You also need to use reporting verbs and indirect speech when describing what people said.

( see document : OBJECTIVES Talking about the past )

REVISION L2 : The Verb :

a) SIMPLE PAST Préterit BV-ED

Formation.
Le SIMPLE PAST se forme en ajoutant -ed à la base verbale à toutes les personnes pour les verbes réguliers. (pour les verbes irréguliers: voir liste) e.g. l started at eight o’clock . He founded the company in 1992. They bought a house in Paris.

Dans les questions et les négations, il faut introduire DO au SIMPLE PAST, donc DID suivi de la base verbale. e.g. l did not / didn't telephone him. He did not / didn't sign the contract . Did you see the match last night ?

Why DID the firm decide to close the factory ?
The firm decided to close the factory because it was unprofitable .

Emplois

a) On emploie le SIMPLE PAST lorsque l'on relate une action passée, terminée. A partir du moment où l'on relate l'événement pour lui même, il faut utiliser le SIMPLE PAST. Donc dès qu'il y a un complément de temps (date objective ou calcul du moment auquel l'action a eu lieu à partir du présent avec AGO) il faut le SIMPLE PAST.

e.g. He lived here in 1978, but now he lives in Paris. Your train left 2 minutes ago.
The company tried to reduce its costs last year but it wasn’t very successful .

b) Le SIMPLE PAST s'emploie pour exprimer l'irréel du présent (supposition, regret, souhait).
Avec IF, on mettra WOULD dans la principale.

e.g. If the