Pair Share With a partner, summarize how lives of the Plains Indians changed after horses came. Use past tense verbs. Share your summary with the class.

Before they had horses, the Plains Indians hunted on foot.

Horses made travel and hunting much easier.

Study the Models When you write about past events, use words that clearly tell about the past. Avoid confusing your reader by changing back and forth between the past and the present.

Add Sentences Think of two sentences to add to the OK model above. Be consistent when you write about the past.

WRITE ON YOUR OWN Think about an event that happened in your community. What were the most important details? Write a summary of the event. Be consistent in telling about the past.

Spelling Rules

Sometimes you need to change the spelling of a verb before you add -ed.

• • If a verb ends in silent e, drop the e before you add -ed.

  live + -ed = lived

  EXAMPLE

  Long ago, Grandpa lived in another country.

• • If a one-syllable verb ends in one vowel and one consonant, double the consonant before you add -ed.

  stop + p + -ed = stopped

  EXAMPLE

  On our last vacation, we stopped by his old house.

• • If a verb ends in y, change the y to i before you add -ed.

  try + -ed = tried

  EXAMPLE

  We tried to understand what his life was like there.

Remember

• • Use past tense verbs to tell about events that already happened.

• • Many past tense verbs end in -ed.

  • learnedwalked

• • Many past tense verbs are irregular.

  • atetook