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negative-interrogative forms are analytic.
Affirmative (synthetic) forms are represented by the second of the basic verb forms.
Interrogative forms are built by means of the auxiliary to do in the past indefinite (did), which is placed
before the subject, and the infinitive stem of the notional verb, which follows the subject.
Negative forms are built by means of the negative form of the auxiliary, which has two varieties: a) didn’t
(used in the spoken language) and b) did not (used in the written language) and the infinitive of the notional
verb that follows it.
The paradigm of the verb in the past indefinite
Affirmative
Interrogative
I
He (she, it)
We
You
They
spoke (played)
Did
I
he (she, it)
we
you
they
speak (play?)
Negative
I
He (she, it)
We
You
They
did not (didn’t) speak (play)
Negative-interrogative
a)
Did
I
he (she, it)
we
you
they
Not speak? (play?)
b)
Didn’t
I
he (she, it)
we
you
they
speak? (play?)
The auxiliary did also occurs in affirmative forms in cases when the speaker wishes to emphasize his
statement, as in:
But I assure you, he did tell me of it himself.
Actually, I did see him once last week.
There are a few verbs which form their past indefinite differently from the way described above. These are:
The verb to be, which has synthetic forms not only in the affirmative, but also in the interrogative, negative
and negative-interrogative. It also distinguishes the category of number. The interrogative is formed by placing
the verb before the subject.
The verb to have, which also has synthetic forms for all structures.
When having meanings other than ‘possess’ or when used as part of a phrasal verb (to have a look), to have
forms its interrogative and negative in the ordinary way with the auxiliary to do.
§ 31. The past indefinite refers actions to past time quite cut off from the present, that is, these actions are in
no way connected with the present).* The past indefinite can therefore be used only in contexts relating to the
past. The past reference of the context can be shown:
* This is very important for distinguishing the situations in which either only the past indefinite or only the present perfect are to
be used.
a) by various adverbials of time pointing to the past, for example, yesterday, the day before yesterday, last
(that) Saturday (Sunday), etc., last (that) week (month, year), an hour ago (and other adverbials with ago), in
1970, on the 1st of September, and many others denoting certain moments and periods of time already past.