How to Use past tense in a Sentence

past tense

noun
  • Silicon Valley Bank is now past tense, but the crisis kicked off by its collapse is not.
    Lila MacLellan, Fortune, 21 Mar. 2023
  • The use of the past tense leaves those close to Chris with lumps in their throats.
    Los Angeles Times, 6 July 2021
  • Referring to her in the past tense is still too painful to bare.
    Michael Mayo, sun-sentinel.com, 14 Feb. 2019
  • But that’s all in the past tense now for Zanolli and her teammates.
    Ann Killion, San Francisco Chronicle, 27 Apr. 2021
  • Even their Wikipedia article now refers to them in the past tense.
    John Norris, Billboard, 18 Nov. 2022
  • Khoja’s use of the past tense isn’t because all this is over.
    Cassie Werber, Quartz at Work, 12 Dec. 2019
  • Correa, a free agent, talked about the Astros in the past tense on Tuesday.
    BostonGlobe.com, 6 Nov. 2021
  • All of us are under such pressure to put our problems in the past tense.
    Katarina Avendano, Good Housekeeping, 29 Apr. 2022
  • By the time the duo started performing the song a year later, Dye says, the pain had been in the past tense for a few months.
    Nancy Kruh, PEOPLE.com, 13 Aug. 2019
  • There'll be just a little bit less joy when speaking of Kobe Bryant in past tense.
    J. Michael, Indianapolis Star, 27 Jan. 2020
  • Both women appear to talk about Tully in the past tense.
    Ariana Romero, refinery29.com, 5 Feb. 2021
  • My mother sees this day as the pinnacle of her youth, and speaks of her beauty in the past tense.
    Devan Díaz, Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2022
  • The past tense was unmistakable; the dream, at least in this current form, was over.
    Emily Yoshida, Vulture, 22 Dec. 2021
  • Fresh outlook: After being cut from 2021 Heat training camp, the thought was of Smith in the past tense.
    Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 18 Oct. 2022
  • The story people read on Twitter is a story being told in the past tense.
    Rachel Handler, Vulture, 30 June 2021
  • But that version of Macerata seemed more in the past tense.
    Jason Horowitz, New York Times, 7 July 2018
  • One of the biggest difference from the series: Jonathan only shows up in the novel in past tense.
    Jenny Hollander, Marie Claire, 10 Nov. 2020
  • But the past tense of que sera sera is what used to be used to be, and growing up is getting to know it, accepting that lives move on.
    Los Angeles Times, 25 Jan. 2023
  • Russell already speaks in the past tense about her two-bedroom on Barrow Street.
    Bridget Read, Curbed, 2 Feb. 2021
  • To quote Roosevelt, in the past tense, The only fear to fear was fear itself — fear of an economic meltdown.
    Laurence Kotlikoff, Forbes, 11 July 2022
  • During the 16th century, its past tense gave rise to the modern hoist/hoisted.
    Melissa Mohr, The Christian Science Monitor, 27 Sep. 2021
  • Now Correa is already talking about Houston in the past tense.
    BostonGlobe.com, 3 Apr. 2021
  • Peter Van Sant: Why would a man who was claiming his wife had walked away, have to remind himself to not speak about her in the past tense?
    Peter Van Sant, CBS News, 10 Dec. 2022
  • Of course, fans immediately picked up on the past tense used in their answers.
    Carolyn Twersky, Seventeen, 20 May 2020
  • My children talk about the pandemic in the past tense, something at least a year removed from daily life.
    Carrie McKean, The Week, 25 Dec. 2021
  • In a political campaign, there is no past tense and there is no future tense.
    Seema Mehta, latimes.com, 11 July 2019
  • Of course, people are pointing out Skeet and his girlfriend's use of the past tense, citing it as a sign that Lili and Cole are no longer together.
    Noelle Devoe, Seventeen, 26 May 2020
  • According to BookTok, that sentence should be in past tense.
    Sonja Sharpstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 28 Dec. 2022
  • The collective millions of dollars spent to acquire and restore the cars, all the time, research and sweat — all slipped into past tense.
    Susan Callaway, Los Angeles Times, 29 Aug. 2019
  • The past tense has become a constant companion in the present moment, as every facet of my life has changed due to the pandemic.
    Ekemini Uwan, The Atlantic, 13 June 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'past tense.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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