Swam
/swæm/
verbA2past tense
Definition
Swam means that someone moved their body through water using their arms and legs in the past. It is the action of swimming but happened before now.
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See It in Action
Past action of moving through water by swimming
- •Yesterday, I swam in the lake for an hour.
- •She swam across the pool during her swimming class.
- •We swam together at the beach last summer.
Make It Stick
- ✓Think of "swam" like "walked" but in water, moving your body to go from one place to another
- ✓Picture a person moving their arms and legs in water, pushing themselves forward like a fish
- ✓It's the feeling of fun or exercise when you play or move in a pool or lake
- ✓Sounds like "swam" → imagine a small "swamp" where someone is moving carefully through water
- ✓Remember childhood swimming lessons where you learned to move in water using your hands and feet
- ✓NOT like "floated" (just staying on water without moving), "swam" means active movement through water
- ✓NOT like "dove" (jumping into water), "swam" is about moving inside the water after entering it
Try Other Words
- •Floated: stayed on the surface of water without moving much (Use when the person is not actively moving)
- •Paddled: moved hands and feet gently in water (Use when movement is light and slow, often for fun)
- •Dove: jumped headfirst into water (Use when describing entering water quickly and actively)
- •Glided: moved smoothly through water or air (Use when movement is slow and smooth, not strong)
Unboxing
- •Word parts: root "swim" + past tense suffix "-ed" changed to "swam" (irregular form)
- •Etymology: Old English "swimman" meaning to move through water by moving the body
- •Historical development: The verb "swim" has irregular past tense forms like "swam" used since early English
- •Modern usage: Common past tense form used to describe swimming actions done before now
Reflect & Connect
•How does the experience of swimming change when you think about it happening in the past, like when you swam last summer?
•What feelings or memories come to mind when you say "I swam" in a pool or the sea?
Fill in the blanks
1.Yesterday, she swam ___ the river to reach the other side safely.
2.After he swam for an hour, he felt very ___ and thirsty.
3.Swam is different from floated because swam means active ___ through water.
4.When they swam together, they ___ and laughed in the water happily.
5.The children swam ___ in the pool during their summer camp.
6.He swam ___ quickly because he wanted to finish the race first.
7.From the sentence "She swam every morning," we can infer she ___ swimming regularly.