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yao hong wu

Taiwan

January 30, 2010
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road warrior expr. 定義person who travels a lot for business範例Michael was a road warrior for ten years but now he spends a lot more time at home.

up in the air expr.

定義

not sure; undecided; not yet committed

範例

I'm still up in the air about whether or not I want to go to Tyler's party this weekend.

Oscar buzz expr.

定義

rumors about a movie getting nominated for an Oscar

範例

There has been a lot of Oscar buzz about Avatar this year.

hit the road expr.

定義

go; start traveling

範例

Let's hit the road. I want to be there before the sun goes down.

bond v.

定義

form an attachment to another person

範例

My brother and I bonded when I taught him to drive.

on the road expr.

定義

traveling; out of town

範例

I play in a rock band. We've been on the road for about 6 months going from town to town playing music. It's fun, but I'm getting tired.

ups and downs expr.

定義

good and bad things; positives and negatives

範例

We had a lot of ups and downs in our marriage before we finally divorced.

perks n.

定義

benefits; extras; bonuses

範例

My job doesn't pay well, but I got lots of perks. They buy my lunches, and I have access to the gym.

settle down expr.

定義

to become more stable

範例

Jeffrey traveled the world in his twenties. Now he's settled down with a wife and kids.

fast-paced adj.

定義

moving quickly; speedy and hectic

範例

The match between Venus and Serena Williams was fast-paced. You had to pay attention because things were happening so fast.

Simple Past Tense

Mason says Up in the Air reached further than it achieved. Both reached and achieved are verbs in the simple past tense.

Both these verbs are regular. For regular verbs, we add -ed to the end of the verb to form the past tense. So walk becomes walked and jump becomes jumped. For regular verbs that already end in -e,you just add -d to the end of the verb. So achieve becomes achieved and love becomes loved.

Irregular verbs don’t follow this pattern. For example, do you know what the past tense of the verb fly is?

View more lessons with this grammar point: "Simple Past Tense"

The simple past tense is used to talk about a completed action or state that occurred in the past. To form this tense, you simply add ed to the end of the verb, as long as it is a regular verb. For example, the past tense of walk is walked. Be sure you use the simple past whenever you say when something happened in the past, for example, "I talked to her yesterday."

There are many irregular verbs in the simple past tense, however. For example, the past tense of have is had. The past tense of does is did. Be is especially tricky, because we say I/he/she/it was and you/we/they were.

To form the negative in the simple past tense, we put did not before the base form of the main verb, as in, "I did not see a movie last night." Did not is often shortened to didn't, especially in spoken English. With the verb "to be," we use was not, as in, "I was not impressed by the film."