Carry past tense
Meaning of carry
to transport or take from one place to another.
Infinitive
- 1. Every morning, he carries his backpack to school without complaint.
- 2. She carries a lot of responsibility on her shoulders as the eldest sibling.
- 3. The delivery service carries goods to all the local businesses in our area.
Past Simple
- 1. She carried the heavy boxes up the stairs without help.
- 2. He carried an umbrella because it looked like rain.
- 3. They carried the tradition from generation to generation with pride.
Past Participle
- 1. The exhausted hiker was carried to safety by the rescue team.
- 2. All the luggage has been carried upstairs by the hotel staff.
- 3. The relics were carefully carried into the museum for the exhibition.
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Bare infinitive
- Habitual actions or routines.Example. I carry my laptop to work every day.Example. Gravity carries objects towards the Earth.Example. The train carries passengers to the city center every morning.Example. This backpack carries too much weight for its size.Example. First, carry the ingredients to the mixing bowl.
- General truths or facts.Example. I carry my laptop to work every day.Example. Gravity carries objects towards the Earth.Example. The train carries passengers to the city center every morning.Example. This backpack carries too much weight for its size.Example. First, carry the ingredients to the mixing bowl.
- Fixed arrangements or schedules (often with future implications).Example. I carry my laptop to work every day.Example. Gravity carries objects towards the Earth.Example. The train carries passengers to the city center every morning.Example. This backpack carries too much weight for its size.Example. First, carry the ingredients to the mixing bowl.
- Expressing feelings, senses, thoughts, possession, appearance, or measurements at the present moment.Example. I carry my laptop to work every day.Example. Gravity carries objects towards the Earth.Example. The train carries passengers to the city center every morning.Example. This backpack carries too much weight for its size.Example. First, carry the ingredients to the mixing bowl.
- Instructions or directions.Example. I carry my laptop to work every day.Example. Gravity carries objects towards the Earth.Example. The train carries passengers to the city center every morning.Example. This backpack carries too much weight for its size.Example. First, carry the ingredients to the mixing bowl.
Past Simple
- Actions or situations that were completed in the past (at a specific time).Example. I carried the groceries home yesterday.Example. She carried the lamp to the living room, then she sat down to read.Example. He carried his briefcase with him everywhere he went.Example. The bridge carried heavy traffic before it was closed.
- Sequences of actions in the past.Example. I carried the groceries home yesterday.Example. She carried the lamp to the living room, then she sat down to read.Example. He carried his briefcase with him everywhere he went.Example. The bridge carried heavy traffic before it was closed.
- Habits or situations in the past (often with expressions like 'always,' 'often,' 'when I was a child,' etc.).Example. I carried the groceries home yesterday.Example. She carried the lamp to the living room, then she sat down to read.Example. He carried his briefcase with him everywhere he went.Example. The bridge carried heavy traffic before it was closed.
- Past states or situations that are no longer true.Example. I carried the groceries home yesterday.Example. She carried the lamp to the living room, then she sat down to read.Example. He carried his briefcase with him everywhere he went.Example. The bridge carried heavy traffic before it was closed.
Past Participle
- Present Perfect tense to talk about actions or experiences that have an impact on the present moment.Example. We have already carried the boxes into the new house.Example. By the time you arrived, we had carried all the chairs outside.Example. The wounded were carried to safety by the rescuers.
- Past Perfect tense to discuss something that happened before another action or time in the past.Example. We have already carried the boxes into the new house.Example. By the time you arrived, we had carried all the chairs outside.Example. The wounded were carried to safety by the rescuers.
- Passive Voice to describe actions where the focus is on the action or the object of the action, not who performs the action.Example. We have already carried the boxes into the new house.Example. By the time you arrived, we had carried all the chairs outside.Example. The wounded were carried to safety by the rescuers.
- Perfect Continuous tenses to emphasize the duration or continuous aspect of an action.Example. We have already carried the boxes into the new house.Example. By the time you arrived, we had carried all the chairs outside.Example. The wounded were carried to safety by the rescuers.
- Example (Present Perfect Continuous, though it's less common with “carry”). I have been carrying this piano upstairs for the last thirty minutes.Example. We have already carried the boxes into the new house.Example. By the time you arrived, we had carried all the chairs outside.Example. The wounded were carried to safety by the rescuers.
Common mistakes
— 01
Incorrect Irregular Verbs
One common mistake when using the past simple and past participle forms of the word 'carry' is confusing it with irregular verbs. 'Carry' is a regular verb, so its past simple and past participle forms are formed by adding '-ed' at the end, resulting in 'carried' for both. However, learners often mistakenly believe that because many English verbs are irregular (with past simple and past participle forms that do not follow a standard pattern), 'carry' might also have an irregular form.
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Omitting Double Consonant
Another mistake involves the spelling of the past simple and past participle forms of 'carry.' When a verb ends in a consonant preceded by a vowel, and the stress is on the last syllable (as in 'admit'), the final consonant is doubled before adding '-ed.' However, since the stress in 'carry' is not on the last syllable, we do not double the 'r' before adding '-ed.' A common error is either unnecessarily doubling the consonant ('carrried') or, conversely, when necessary, forgetting to do so with other verbs, misapplying the rule learned from 'carry.'
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Misuse in Perfect Tenses
A frequent mistake with the past participle form 'carried' occurs in the construction of perfect tenses. Learners sometimes confuse when to use the past simple form versus the past participle form with auxiliary verbs. For instance, in the sentence 'I have carried the boxes,' 'have' requires the past participle 'carried.' However, a common error is using the past simple form instead, as in 'I have carry the boxes,' misunderstanding the structure of present perfect tense. This mistake undermines the grammatical integrity of the sentence, leading to confusion in temporal understanding.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the past simple form of 'carry'?
How is the past participle form of 'carry' used?
Can you provide an example of 'carried' used in a sentence in past perfect tense?