英语动词过去时一直是传统的语法学家的探究热点,而从认知语言学的重要理论——类典型理论的角度出发来研究英语动词过去时,不失为一种新的视角。该文从类典型理论的基本思想出发,结合家族相似性,解释英语过去时态范畴的多义性,以揭示原型理论在该认知过程中的重要作用。 English verbs have always been the hot topics of the traditional grammarians in the past, and it is a new perspective to study the past verbs of English verbs from the perspective of the classical theory of cognitive linguistics. Starting from the basic idea of ​​class theory and combining family similarities, this article explains the ambiguity of past tense category in English so as to reveal the important role of the prototype theory in this cognitive process.