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Simple Past Continuos

The document describes the simple past tense and past continuous tense in English. The simple past tense is used to talk about completed actions in the past, regardless of duration, and it is associated with time expressions like "last week" or "when I was a child." Regular verbs in the simple past take -ed. The past continuous describes unfinished or ongoing actions in the past, and is formed using "was/were" plus the verb's "-ing" form. Examples are provided for both tenses.

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David Shure Xiv
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65 views

Simple Past Continuos

The document describes the simple past tense and past continuous tense in English. The simple past tense is used to talk about completed actions in the past, regardless of duration, and it is associated with time expressions like "last week" or "when I was a child." Regular verbs in the simple past take -ed. The past continuous describes unfinished or ongoing actions in the past, and is formed using "was/were" plus the verb's "-ing" form. Examples are provided for both tenses.

Uploaded by

David Shure Xiv
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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SIMPLE PAST TENSE

FUNCTIONS OF THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE


The simple past is used to talk about a completed action in a time before now. Duration is not
important. The time of the action can be in the recent past or the distant past.

EXAMPLES
 John Cabot sailed to America in 1498.
 My father died last year.
 He lived in Fiji in 1976.
 We crossed the Channel yesterday.

You always use the simple past when you say when something happened, so it is associated with
certain past time expressions

 frequency: often, sometimes, always


I sometimes walked home at lunchtime.
I often brought my lunch to school.
 a definite point in time: last week, when I was a child, yesterday, six weeks ago
We saw a good film last week.
Yesterday, I arrived in Geneva.
She finished her work atseven o'clock
I went to the theatre last night
 an indefinite point in time: the other day, ages ago, a long time ago People lived in caves
a long time ago.
 She played the piano when she was a child.

Note: the word ago is a useful way of expressing the distance into the past. It is placed after the
period of time: a week ago, three years ago, a minute ago.

Be Careful: The simple past in English may look like a tense in your own language, but the meaning
may be different.

FORMING THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE


PATTERNS OF SIMPLE PAST TENSE FOR REGULAR VERBS

Affirmative

Subject + verb + ed
I skipped.

Negative

Subject + did not + infinitive without to

They didn't go.

Interrogative

Did + subject + infinitive without to

Did she arrive?

Interrogative negative

Did not + subject + infinitive without to

Didn't you play?


PAST CONTINUOUS
TENSE
FUNCTIONS OF THE PAST CONTINUOUS
The past continuous describes actions or events in a time before now, which began in the past and
is still going on at the time of speaking. In other words, it expresses an unfinished or incomplete
action in the past.

It is used:

Subject was/were base + ing

They were watching

Affirmative

She was reading

Negative

She wasn't reading

Interrogative

Was she reading?

Interrogative negative

Wasn't she reading?


 Often, to describe the background in a story written in the past tense, e.g. "The sun was
shining and the birds were singing as the elephant came out of the jungle. The other
animals were relaxing in the shade of the trees, but the elephant moved very quickly.
She was looking for her baby, and she didn't notice the hunter who was watching her
through his binoculars. When the shot rang out, she was running towards the river..."
 to describe an unfinished action that was interrupted by another event or action, e.g. "I was
having a beautiful dream when the alarm clock rang."
 to express a change of mind: e.g. "I was going to spend the day at the beach but I've
decided to get my homework done instead."
 with 'wonder', to make a very polite request: e.g. "I was wondering if you could baby-sit for
me tonight."

EXAMPLES
 They were waiting for the bus when the accident happened.
 Caroline was skiing when she broke her leg.
 When we arrived he was having a bath.
 When the fire started, I was watching television.

Note: with verbs not normally used in the continuous form, the simple past is used.

FORMING THE PAST CONTINUOUS


The past continuous of any verb is composed of two parts : the past tense of the verb "to be"
(was/were), and the base of the main verb +ing.

TO PLAY, PAST CONTINUOUS


Affirmative Negative Interrogative

I was playing I was not playing Was I playing?

You were playing You were not playing Were you playing?

He was playing He wasn't playing Was he playing?

We were playing We weren't playing Were we playing?

They were playing They weren't playing Were they playing?

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