something more about simple past

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1、SomethingMoreaboutSimplePast　　1Introduction　　Thepasttenseisusedtorefertosomethingwhichoccurredataparticulartimeinthepast（Willis2003：34）.ThisseeminglysimplerulecouldbeveryconfusinganddifficultforEnglishlearnersinChina.Simplepastiscrucialforitfirstintroducestheconceptof"tense"andago

2、odgraspofsimplepastwouldlayasolidfoundationforfuturelearningofmorecomplicatedtensesandaspectslikepresentperfectandpastcontinuous.Thispaperwillanalyzewhatsimplepastis，whyitisdifficult，andhowtoteachittoChinesestudents.　　2Explanationofsimplepasttense　　Literallypasttenseiscloselyrelat

3、edtothetimepast'.Sinclair（1990：250）definesfourcircumstanceswheresimplepasttenseisapplicable.Theyare：eventsoccurredorcasesinthepast，pastsituations，somethinghappenedinapastsituationwhetherornotthatsituationstillexistsandactivitiesregularlyorrepeatedlytookplaceinthepastbutwhichnolong

4、eroccurs.Thesecompletedevents，statesoractions，beingexpressedinsimplepasttense，areusuallyusedasatimeanchor'toestablish6thekeytimeframe'tomovestoriesforward（Parrott2000：185）.Quirketal（1972：86）alsoexplainthebasicmeaningofsimplepastinasimilarwayastodenotedefinitepasttime.However，hepoi

5、ntsoutsomeexceptionalcaseswherepasttensedoesnotrefertopasttime，suchasindirect/reportedspeech，attitudinalpast（relatetothespeaker'sattituderatherthantime），andhypotheticalpastespeciallyif'clause.　　WhereasattitudinalpastistreatedbyQuickonlyasaexceptionalcase，Yule（1998：61）challengesthe

6、wildlyusedimageoftimelineasthebasisofgrammaticalcategoryoftense，anddebatesthat"perhapsabetterimagewouldhavethetimeofutterance（speaker'snow）atthecenterandotherreferencedsituationsbeingviewedasextendingindifferentdimensionsoftimeorpossibilityawayfromthatcenter."Thetermremoteness'（Yu

7、le1998：60）ordistance'（Batstone1994：19），maynotonlyrefertotime，butalsotothepsychological，social，hypotheticrelevancetothespeaker'sstateofmind.Itcansuggestthatthespeakers'choiceofpasttenserepresentsthathe/sheisdistancedorremotefromapropositioneitherintimeorinothersenses（Willis2003100-

8、1）.Inall，simplepasttenseisacompli