Add past tense
Meaning of add
to join or combine (numbers or amounts) to calculate their total value.
Infinitive
- 1. Every morning, she adds a spoonful of honey to her tea for extra sweetness.
- 2. He always adds a thoughtful note whenever he sends a gift.
- 3. To improve the flavor, the chef adds a pinch of salt to the sauce.
Past Simple
- 1. She added sugar to her coffee without even tasting it first.
- 2. They added a new member to their team last month.
- 3. We added a fresh coat of paint to the walls yesterday.
Past Participle
- 1. The ingredients were added to the mixture slowly to ensure consistency.
- 2. The numbers had been added incorrectly, leading to the discrepancy in the report.
- 3. By noon, all names had been added to the guest list.
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Bare infinitive
- Habitual Actions or Routines.Example. I add sugar to my coffee every morning.
- General Truths or Facts.Example. Water adds to the weight of the container.
- Scheduled Events in the Near Future (usually for public transport, timetables, etc.).Example. The ferry adds a new route starting next month.
- Instructions or Directions.Example. To solve this puzzle, you add all numbers in a row.
- Commentaries.Example. And here she adds another point to her score!
Past Simple
- Completed Actions in the Past.Example. He added extra sauce to the recipe yesterday.
- Past Habit or Routine.Example. When I was a child, I added a penny to my piggy bank every day.
- Sequences of Past Events.Example. She added the flour, then mixed the batter, and finally baked the cake.
- Conditions in Reported Speech.Example. They said they added more details to the report.
Past Participle
- Perfect Tenses (Present Perfect, Past Perfect, Future Perfect).
- Present Perfect.Example. I have added more examples to my presentation.
- Past Perfect.Example. By the time the teacher arrived, we had already added all necessary citations to our essay.
- Future Perfect.Example. By next week, they will have added the new feature to the app.
- Passive Voice.Example. The document was added to the folder by the assistant.
- Adjective.Example. She showed me a list of added ingredients.
Common mistakes
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Confusing Forms
One common mistake is confusing the past simple form 'added' with the past participle form, which is also 'added'. Although they are the same for the verb 'add', people often mistakenly believe they should be different due to irregular verbs in English which do have distinct forms. For example, thinking there might be a different word for the past participle because verbs like 'write' change to 'wrote' (past simple) and 'written' (past participle).
— 02
Incorrect Use with Auxiliary Verbs
Another mistake is the Incorrect Past Participle with auxiliary verbs in perfect tenses. Since 'added' serves as both the past simple and past participle form, it should be used correctly in sentences like 'I have added' or 'They had added'. Some might mistakenly use the base form 'add' with auxiliary verbs, saying 'I have add' or 'They had add', which is incorrect.
— 03
Misapplication in Passive Voice
Misusing 'added' in passive voice constructions is also a common error. In passive sentences, the past participle form should be used, such as in 'The numbers were added correctly'. However, learners sometimes incorrectly use the base form or past simple form, leading to sentences like 'The numbers was add correctly' or 'The numbers were added correctly', the latter being a mistake in verb agreement rather than form use but indicative of confusion around how to properly structure passive voice sentences with the correct past participle form.
Past tense quiz
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Frequently asked questions
What are the past simple and past participle forms of 'add'?
Can you give an example of a sentence using 'added' in the past simple tense?
How do you use 'added' as a past participle in a sentence?