Stamp past tense
Meaning of stamp
to impress or mark with a distinctive character, figure, or pattern.
Infinitive
- 1. The government requires you to stamp all official documents before submission.
- 2. She likes to stamp her letters with a unique seal for a personal touch.
- 3. Every morning, the manager carefully stamp the date on the fresh produce in the store.
Past Simple
- 1. Yesterday, she stamped all the envelopes before mailing them.
- 2. He stamped his feet to shake off the snow.
- 3. They stamped their passports upon entry last summer.
Past Participle
- 1. The letters had been stamped by the clerk before noon.
- 2. By the time she arrived, all the documents were already stamped.
- 3. The antique book was carefully stamped with the library's emblem.
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Bare infinitive
- To describe a routine action.Example. He stamps envelopes at the post office every day.Example. This machine stamps serial numbers on products.Example. The next collection of stamped mail is at 3 PM.
- To state facts or general truths.Example. He stamps envelopes at the post office every day.Example. This machine stamps serial numbers on products.Example. The next collection of stamped mail is at 3 PM.
- To express scheduled events in the near future (often used with timetables or schedules).Example. He stamps envelopes at the post office every day.Example. This machine stamps serial numbers on products.Example. The next collection of stamped mail is at 3 PM.
Past Simple
- To describe an action that happened and was completed at a specific time in the past.Example. She stamped all the invitations yesterday afternoon.Example. He wrote the letter, stamped it, and mailed it last week.Example. In the old days, people manually stamped letters before sending them.
- To narrate a sequence of past events or actions.Example. She stamped all the invitations yesterday afternoon.Example. He wrote the letter, stamped it, and mailed it last week.Example. In the old days, people manually stamped letters before sending them.
- To talk about habits or general truths in the past, which are no longer true.Example. She stamped all the invitations yesterday afternoon.Example. He wrote the letter, stamped it, and mailed it last week.Example. In the old days, people manually stamped letters before sending them.
Past Participle
- Used in the present perfect tense to describe an action that happened at an unspecified time in the past or that started in the past and continues in the present.Example. They have already stamped all the documents.Example. By the time he remembered, the documents had already been stamped.Example. The legal documents were stamped with the official seal.
- Used in the past perfect tense to talk about an action that was completed before another past action took place.Example. They have already stamped all the documents.Example. By the time he remembered, the documents had already been stamped.Example. The legal documents were stamped with the official seal.
- Used in passive voice sentences to focus on the action or the object of the action instead of who performs the action.Example. They have already stamped all the documents.Example. By the time he remembered, the documents had already been stamped.Example. The legal documents were stamped with the official seal.
Common mistakes
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Incorrect Verb Form
One common mistake is applying the regular verb rule (adding -ed) to irregular verbs. Since 'stamp' is a regular verb and correctly becomes 'stamped' in both its past simple and past participle forms, the mistake would be assuming it changes irregularly. For example, saying 'stampt' or 'stomped' (confusing it with 'stomp') instead of 'stamped.'
— 02
Misuse in Perfect Tenses
Another mistake is incorrectly using the simple past form when the past participle is needed, especially in perfect tenses. For instance, saying 'I have stamp the letter' instead of the correct form 'I have stamped the letter.' This error stems from not distinguishing between when to use the simple past and when to use the past participle.
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Confusion with Similar Sounding Verbs
A third mistake involves confusing 'stamp' with similar-sounding verbs that may have different past and past participle forms, such as 'stomp.' Users might mistakenly apply the pattern of an irregular verb to 'stamp,' leading to incorrect forms. For example, treating 'stamp' as if it were irregular like 'sing' (sang, sung) and saying 'stamp, stampt, stampt' or inventing forms that mimic irregular patterns, instead of the correct 'stamp, stamped, stamped.'
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