Still past tense

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Meaning of still

to calm or quieten.

Infinitive

Word: steal /stiːl/
Examples:
  • 1. She still believes in fairy tales even though she's grown up.
  • 2. They still go for a walk every morning despite the weather.
  • 3. He still makes his own coffee every day instead of buying it.

Past Simple

Word: stilled /stɪld/
Examples:
  • 1. The music stilled, and the room fell into a hushed silence.
  • 2. She stilled her nerves with a deep breath before stepping onto the stage.
  • 3. The gentle touch of his hand stilled the trembling puppy, calming its fears.

Past Participle

Word: stilled /stɪld/
Examples:
  • 1. By the time the performance ended, she had stilled her nerves and delivered a flawless recital.
  • 2. The noise in the classroom had been stilled by the teacher's sharp look, bringing immediate silence.
  • 3. They had stilled the waters in the experiment, observing the effects of pollutants on clear surfaces.

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Bare infinitive

  1. To describe habitual actions or routines involving calming or quieting something or someone.
    Example. She stills her mind with meditation every morning.
    Example. A gentle touch stills the frightened animal.
    Example. To ease your nerves, still your thoughts and focus on your breathing.
  2. To state facts or general truths about the ability to calm or quieten.
    Example. She stills her mind with meditation every morning.
    Example. A gentle touch stills the frightened animal.
    Example. To ease your nerves, still your thoughts and focus on your breathing.
  3. To give instructions or advice related to calming or quieting.
    Example. She stills her mind with meditation every morning.
    Example. A gentle touch stills the frightened animal.
    Example. To ease your nerves, still your thoughts and focus on your breathing.

Past Simple

  1. To talk about a specific instance in the past when something or someone was calmed or quieted.
    Example. The teacher stilled the classroom with a look.
    Example. As the storm approached, we stilled the anxious children with stories and games.
    Example. The sound of the rain stilled the noise inside the house.
  2. To describe a series of actions in the past that involved calming or quieting.
    Example. The teacher stilled the classroom with a look.
    Example. As the storm approached, we stilled the anxious children with stories and games.
    Example. The sound of the rain stilled the noise inside the house.
  3. To express a past action of calming or quieting that is complete.
    Example. The teacher stilled the classroom with a look.
    Example. As the storm approached, we stilled the anxious children with stories and games.
    Example. The sound of the rain stilled the noise inside the house.

Past Participle

  1. Perfect tenses - To talk about actions of calming or quieting that have happened, with relevance to the present moment or completed at an unspecified time in the past.
    Example. The fears were stilled by the reassuring words of the leader.
  2. Example (Present Perfect). She has stilled the waters in many crisis situations at work.
    Example. The fears were stilled by the reassuring words of the leader.
  3. Example (Past Perfect). By the time the negotiations began, the mediator had already stilled the tensions among the parties.
    Example. The fears were stilled by the reassuring words of the leader.
  4. Passive voice - To describe situations where the focus is on the effect of calming or quieting, rather than on who performed the action.
    Example. The fears were stilled by the reassuring words of the leader.

Common mistakes

— 01

Misunderstanding of 'Still'

A prevalent mistake is not recognizing that 'still' can be used as a verb and thus has past tense forms. Learners might only know 'still' as an adverb meaning 'up to a time mentioned' and might not be aware that it can also mean to calm or silence something when used as a verb. This misunderstanding can lead to overlooking the need to conjugate 'still' into 'stilled' when describing actions in the past.

— 02

Incorrect Suffix

Due to unfamiliarity with 'still' as a verb, some learners might incorrectly conjugate it by adding an unnecessary suffix, leading to forms like 'stilleded' instead of the correct 'stilled.' This error arises from misapplying the rules for past tense formation, possibly due to confusion with irregular verbs or overgeneralization from other regular verbs' conjugation patterns.

— 03

Using the Base Form

Another common error involves using the base form 'still' instead of the past simple or past participle form 'stilled' in sentences that refer to past actions. For instance, saying 'Yesterday, I try to still the waters' instead of the correct 'Yesterday, I tried to still the waters.' This mistake reflects a misunderstanding of tense usage or an underappreciation for 'still' as a verb that requires proper conjugation to indicate past actions.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the past simple form of 'still'?

The confusion arises because 'still' is primarily used as an adverb, meaning it does not have past simple or past participle forms as verbs do. When we talk about the action of making something still or calming it, the verb we might be looking for is 'still' in a very archaic or poetic sense, but more commonly 'calm' or 'quiet.' For 'calm,' the past simple is 'calmed,' and for 'quiet,' it is 'quieted.'

Can 'still' be used as a verb, and if so, what would its past participle be?

While 'still' is predominantly used as an adverb or adjective, it can very rarely and in a somewhat outdated or literary manner, be used as a verb meaning to make quiet or calm. In such rare usage, the past participle could theoretically be 'stilled.' However, in modern usage, when talking about making something calm or quiet, verbs like 'calmed' or 'quieted' are preferred, with their past participles being 'calmed' and 'quieted,' respectively.

How do I use 'still' in a sentence to indicate something happened in the past?

Since 'still' is mainly an adverb or adjective, you would use it with verbs in their past form to indicate past actions. For example. 'He was still working at 10 PM.' (Here, 'was working' is the past continuous verb, and 'still' indicates the action was ongoing at a point in the past.) 'They still loved each other, even after all those years.' ('Loved' is the past simple verb form, and 'still' shows the continuation of the feeling from the past to the present.) Is there a common mistake to avoid when using 'still' in past tense sentences