Shoo past tense
Meaning of shoo
to drive or impel someone or something away by shouting 'shoo' or by making similar noises.
Infinitive
- 1. Every time the stray cats come near the porch, she shooes them away.
- 2. He always shooes the birds from the garden to protect his seeds.
- 3. My grandmother shooes us out of the kitchen when she's preparing a surprise meal.
Past Simple
- 1. I shooed the stray cat away from the garden yesterday because it was digging up the flowers.
- 2. When we noticed a bee buzzing around our picnic, my friend quickly shooed it away.
- 3. Before closing the barn for the night, he shooed all the chickens back inside.
Past Participle
- 1. The stray dogs had been shooed away by the store owner before the morning rush.
- 2. By the end of the picnic, all the insects had been successfully shooed away by the aromatic candles.
- 3. The children were shooed indoors as the storm clouds gathered.
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Bare infinitive
- To express a habitual action or a general truth.Example. I shoo birds away from my garden every morning.
- To give instructions or directions.Example. If you see pigeons near the statue, just shoo them away.
- To express scheduled events in the near future (less common with 'shoo' but possible).Example. Every Sunday, we shoo the ducks out of our pool area.
Past Simple
- To express an action completed at a specific time in the past.Example. I shooed the cat off the table this morning.
- To narrate a series of completed actions in the past.Example. She shooed the dog away and then closed the gate.
- To express past habits or states, often with adverbs or phrases like 'always,' 'often,' 'never,' 'when I was a child,' etc.Example. We often shooed birds away from our picnic in the park.
Past Participle
- Use in Perfect Tenses.Example. The intruders were shooed away by the security guard.
- Present Perfect. To express an action that occurred at an unspecified time before now. The exact time is not important.Example. I have shooed pigeons away from the balcony several times.Example. The intruders were shooed away by the security guard.
- Past Perfect. To express an action that occurred before another action in the past.Example. By the time the guests arrived, we had already shooed the stray cats away from the entrance.Example. The intruders were shooed away by the security guard.
- Future Perfect (less common with 'shoo'). To express an action that will be completed at some point in the future.Example. By tomorrow morning, we will have shooed all the seagulls away from the deck.Example. The intruders were shooed away by the security guard.
- Passive Voice Use (though rare with 'shoo').Example. The intruders were shooed away by the security guard.
Common mistakes
— 01
Incorrect Spelling
A common mistake is to misspell the past forms of 'shoo' by omitting the 'e' before adding 'd,' leading to an incorrect spelling like 'shood' instead of 'shooed.' This error arises from a misunderstanding or oversight of the rule that when a verb ends in 'o,' the correct past tense and past participle form in most cases should add 'ed' after the 'o,' resulting in 'shooed.'
— 02
Using the Base Form
Another frequent error involves using the base form 'shoo' instead of the past simple or past participle form 'shooed' in sentences that refer to past actions. For instance, saying 'Yesterday, I shoo the birds away from the porch' instead of 'Yesterday, I shooed the birds away from the porch.' This mistake indicates a lack of understanding about tense usage and the need to modify the verb to reflect past actions accurately.
— 03
Incorrect Doubling
While less common, some learners might mistakenly believe that the past tense of 'shoo' requires doubling the 'o' before adding 'ed,' possibly resulting in a misspelled form like 'shoooed.' This misunderstanding could stem from confusion with verbs that do require consonant doubling before adding the past tense suffix, even though 'shoo' already ends in a double 'o' and simply needs 'ed' added to form the past tense.
Past tense quiz
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