Conduct past tense
Meaning of conduct
lead or guide (someone) to or around a particular place.
Infinitive
- 1. The principal conducts regular inspections of all classrooms to ensure optimal learning environments.
- 2. She conducts thorough research before writing her papers.
- 3. Every year, the city orchestra conducts a free concert in the park for the community.
Past Simple
- 1. The researcher conducted a series of experiments to test the new theory.
- 2. The orchestra conducted their first performance in the newly refurbished concert hall last year.
- 3. The tour guide skillfully conducted the group through the historic district, pointing out all the significant landmarks.
Past Participle
- 1. The survey was conducted by the research team last month.
- 2. Extensive tests had been conducted before the product was launched.
- 3. The investigation will have been conducted by the end of the week.
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Bare infinitive
- To express general truths or facts.Example. Water conducts electricity.Example. She conducts the choir every Wednesday.
- To describe habitual actions or routines.Example. Water conducts electricity.Example. She conducts the choir every Wednesday.
Past Simple
- To describe actions that happened at a specific time in the past, which are now completed.Example. The professor conducted a series of experiments last year.
Past Participle
- To form the perfect tenses.Example. She has conducted extensive research into renewable energy sources.Example. The survey was conducted by a team of sociologists.
- To form the passive voice.Example. She has conducted extensive research into renewable energy sources.Example. The survey was conducted by a team of sociologists.
Common mistakes
— 01
Confusing Forms
A common mistake is treating irregular verbs as if they were regular, especially when forming their past simple and past participle forms. For instance, the verb 'conduct' is a regular verb, and its past simple and past participle forms are correctly formed by adding -ed (conducted). However, learners often misapply this rule to irregular verbs, leading to errors. For example, instead of the correct forms 'drove' and 'driven' for the verb 'drive,' they might incorrectly use 'drived' following the pattern of 'conduct' -> 'conducted.'
— 02
Incorrect Past Participle
Another mistake involves not using the correct past participle form in perfect tenses and passive voice, which can change the meaning or grammatical correctness of a sentence. Since 'conducted' is both the past simple and past participle form for 'conduct,' learners might wrongly apply this pattern to all verbs, leading to errors in verbs that have distinct forms. For instance, they might incorrectly use 'ate' instead of the correct 'eaten' as the past participle in a sentence like 'I have eaten dinner.'
— 03
Omitting Auxiliary Verb
A frequent error is forgetting to include the auxiliary verb (have/has) with the past participle in perfect tense constructions. This mistake stems from misunderstanding the structure of perfect tenses. For example, saying 'I conducted research yesterday' is correct in the past simple, but in the present perfect, the correct form is 'I have conducted research,' not 'I conducted research' as an attempt to express an action that has relevance to the present moment. This confusion often arises from the similarity in form between the past simple and past participle for regular verbs like 'conduct.'
Past tense quiz
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