Degree of Comparison + Simple Past Tense

8.1.          Degree of Comparison

Degrees of Comparison are used when we compare one person or one thing with another.

There are three Degrees of Comparison in English.

They are: 

1.      Positive degree. 

2.      Comparative degree. 

3.      Superlative degree. 

Let us see all of them one by one.

1.Positive degree.

When we speak about only one person or thing, We use the Positive degree.

Examples:

• This house is big.

In this sentence only one noun “The house" is talked about.

• He is a tall student.

• This flower is beautiful.

• He is an intelligent boy.

Each sentence mentioned above talks about only one noun. 

The second one in the Degrees of Comparison is...

2.      Comparative degree. 

When we compare two persons or two things with each other,

We use both the Positive degree and Comparative degree.

Examples:

a. This house is bigger than that one. (Comparative degree)

This house is not as big as that one. (Positive degree)

The term “bigger" is comparative version of the term “big".

Both these sentences convey the same meaning.

b. This flower is more beautiful than that. (Comparative)

This flower is not as beautiful as that. (Positive)

The term “more beautiful" is comparative version of the term “beautiful".

Both these sentences convey the same meaning.

c. He is more intelligent than this boy. (Comparative)

He is not as intelligent as this boy. (Positive) 

The term “more intelligent" is comparative version of the term “intelligent".

Both these sentences convey the same meaning.

d. He is taller than Mr. Hulas. (Comparative)

He is not as tall as Mr. Hulas. (Positive)

The term “taller" is comparative version of the term “tall".

Both these sentences convey the same meaning.


When we compare more than two persons or things with one another,

We use all the three Positive, Comparative and Superlative degrees.

Examples:

a. This is the biggest house in this street. (Superlative)

This house is bigger than any other house in this street. (Comparative)

No other house in this street is as big as this one. (Positive)

The term “biggest" is the superlative version of the term “big".  All the three sentences mean the same meaning.

b. This flower is the most beautiful one in this garden. (Superlative)

This flower is more beautiful than any other flower in this garden. (Comparative)

No other flower in this garden is as beautiful as this one. (Comparative)

The term “most beautiful" is the superlative version of the term “beautiful".  All the three sentences mean the same meaning.

c. He is the most intelligent in this class. (Superlative)

He is more intelligent than other boys in the class. (Comparative)

No other boy is as intelligent as this boy. (Positive)

The term “most intelligent" is superlative version of the term “intelligent".  Both these sentences convey the same meaning.

d. He is the tallest student in this class. (Superlative)

He is taller than other students in this class. (Comparative)

No other student is as tall as this student. (Positive)
The term “tallest" is superlative version of the term “tall".

8.2.          Simple Past Tense

With most verbs the past tense is formed by adding -ed:

call >> called; like >> liked; want >> wanted; work >> worked

But there are a lot of irregular past tenses in English. Here are the most common irregular verbs in English, with their past tenses:

infinitive	irregular past
be begin break bring buy build choose come cost cut do draw drive eat feel find get give go have hear hold keep know leave lead let lie lose make mean meet pay put run say sell send set sit speak spend stand take teach tell think understand wear win write	was/were began broke brought bought built chose came cost cut did drew drove ate felt found got gave went had heard held kept knew left led let lay lost made meant met paid put ran said sold sent set sat spoke spent stood took taught told thought understood wore won wrote

1)    Use

We use the past tense to talk about:

·         something that happened once in the past:

I met my wife in 1983.
We went to Spain for our holidays.
They got home very late last night.

·         something that happened again and again in the past:

When I was a boy I walked a mile to school every day.
We swam a lot while we were on holiday.
They always enjoyed visiting their friends.

·         something that was true for some time in the past:

I lived abroad for ten years.
He enjoyed being a student.
She played a lot of tennis when she was younger.

·         we often use phrases with ago with the past tense:

I met my wife a long time ago.

2)    Questions and negatives

We use did to make questions with the past tense:

When did you meet your wife?
Where did you go for your holidays?
Did she play tennis when she was younger?
Did you live abroad?

But look at these questions:

Who discovered penicillin?
Who wrote Don Quixote?

For more on these questions see question forms

We use didn’t (did not) to make negatives with the past tense:

They didn’t go to Spain this year.
We didn’t get home until very late last night.
I didn’t see you yesterday. 

      Source :

      http://www.english-for-students.com/Degrees-of-Comparison.html

     http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/verbs/past-tense/past-simple