How to Use past tense in a Sentence

past tense

noun

• The use of the past tense leaves those close to Chris with lumps in their throats.
  — Los Angeles Times, 6 July 2021
• Referring to her in the past tense is still too painful to bare.
  — Michael Mayo, sun-sentinel.com, 14 Feb. 2019
• But that’s all in the past tense now for Zanolli and her teammates.
  — Ann Killion, San Francisco Chronicle, 27 Apr. 2021
• Even their Wikipedia article now refers to them in the past tense.
  — John Norris, Billboard, 18 Nov. 2022
• Khoja’s use of the past tense isn’t because all this is over.
  — Cassie Werber, Quartz at Work, 12 Dec. 2019
• Correa, a free agent, talked about the Astros in the past tense on Tuesday.
  — BostonGlobe.com, 6 Nov. 2021
• All of us are under such pressure to put our problems in the past tense.
  — Katarina Avendano, Good Housekeeping, 29 Apr. 2022
• By the time the duo started performing the song a year later, Dye says, the pain had been in the past tense for a few months.
  — Nancy Kruh, PEOPLE.com, 13 Aug. 2019
• There'll be just a little bit less joy when speaking of Kobe Bryant in past tense.
  — J. Michael, Indianapolis Star, 27 Jan. 2020
• Both women appear to talk about Tully in the past tense.
  — Ariana Romero, refinery29.com, 5 Feb. 2021
• My mother sees this day as the pinnacle of her youth, and speaks of her beauty in the past tense.
  — Devan Díaz, Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2022
• The past tense was unmistakable; the dream, at least in this current form, was over.
  — Emily Yoshida, Vulture, 22 Dec. 2021
• Fresh outlook: After being cut from 2021 Heat training camp, the thought was of Smith in the past tense.
  — Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 18 Oct. 2022
• The story people read on Twitter is a story being told in the past tense.
  — Rachel Handler, Vulture, 30 June 2021
• But that version of Macerata seemed more in the past tense.
  — Jason Horowitz, New York Times, 7 July 2018
• One of the biggest difference from the series: Jonathan only shows up in the novel in past tense.
  — Jenny Hollander, Marie Claire, 10 Nov. 2020
• But the past tense of que sera sera is what used to be used to be, and growing up is getting to know it, accepting that lives move on.
  — Los Angeles Times, 25 Jan. 2023
• Russell already speaks in the past tense about her two-bedroom on Barrow Street.
  — Bridget Read, Curbed, 2 Feb. 2021
• To quote Roosevelt, in the past tense, The only fear to fear was fear itself — fear of an economic meltdown.
  — Laurence Kotlikoff, Forbes, 11 July 2022
• During the 16th century, its past tense gave rise to the modern hoist/hoisted.
  — Melissa Mohr, The Christian Science Monitor, 27 Sep. 2021
• Now Correa is already talking about Houston in the past tense.
  — BostonGlobe.com, 3 Apr. 2021
• Peter Van Sant: Why would a man who was claiming his wife had walked away, have to remind himself to not speak about her in the past tense?
  — Peter Van Sant, CBS News, 10 Dec. 2022
• Of course, fans immediately picked up on the past tense used in their answers.
  — Carolyn Twersky, Seventeen, 20 May 2020
• My children talk about the pandemic in the past tense, something at least a year removed from daily life.
  — Carrie McKean, The Week, 25 Dec. 2021
• In a political campaign, there is no past tense and there is no future tense.
  — Seema Mehta, latimes.com, 11 July 2019
• Of course, people are pointing out Skeet and his girlfriend's use of the past tense, citing it as a sign that Lili and Cole are no longer together.
  — Noelle Devoe, Seventeen, 26 May 2020
• According to BookTok, that sentence should be in past tense.
  — Sonja Sharpstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 28 Dec. 2022
• Silicon Valley Bank is now past tense, but the crisis kicked off by its collapse is not.
  — Lila MacLellan, Fortune, 21 Mar. 2023
• The collective millions of dollars spent to acquire and restore the cars, all the time, research and sweat — all slipped into past tense.
  — Susan Callaway, Los Angeles Times, 29 Aug. 2019
• The past tense has become a constant companion in the present moment, as every facet of my life has changed due to the pandemic.
  — Ekemini Uwan, The Atlantic, 13 June 2020

Last Updated: 1 Dec 2024