Run fast go tek it up gi me
Di man tek whip beat di children dem

• Finally, in Standard English simple past tense is usually marked by a sound represented in spelling by the addition of [-d] or [-ed], or by a strong verb: break/broke. In Caribbean Creole English, the distribution of an event through time (whether it is repeated, continuous or completed) tends to be of greater importance than tense. Once a specific time context has been established, there is no need to mark for tense. Only when there is a time shift will it be necessary for the tense to be re-established. Examples:

Yesterday I ran for the bus.
The car stopped at the lights.
The food is finished.

Foreign English Influences

Foreign English refers to the presence, in the Caribbean, of the variety of English spoken in Britain, America and Canada. However, it is not only produced by foreigners. Many Caribbean people will imitate a British accent on the north coast of the island. The result is that many Jamaicans have developed an acute facility in moving from one type of English to another.