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past simple and past continuous

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3 views

past simple and past continuous

Uploaded by

Sara Mello Neiva
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Past simple and Past Continuous

Grammar explanation
The past continuous and the past simple help us to show how two past
actions or situations are connected.

Past simple
The past simple shows us that an action was in the past, not in the present.
Regular past simple verbs have -ed at the end (e.g. called, played, arrived).
Irregular verbs have a different form, usually with a different vowel sound
(e.g. wake → woke, break → broke, feel → felt).

Affirmative

My parents called me yesterday.


I woke up early this morning.
Sam played basketball when he was at university.
We make the negative with didn't and the infinitive verb.

Negative

My parents didn't call me yesterday.


I didn't wake up early this morning.
We make the question form with did and then the subject and infinitive verb.

Questions

Did you wake up early this morning?


Did Sam play basketball when he was at university?

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 several times 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 expressions with ago with the past simple:


I met my wife a long time ago.

Past continuous
The past continuous is made from the past tense of the verb be and the –
ing form of a verb:

I was
You were working
He was playing
She was living
It was talking
We were
You were etc.
They were

We use the past continuous to talk about the past:

• for something which happened before and after another action:


•
The children were doing their homework when I got home.
Compare: The children did their homework when (= after) I got home.
This use of the past continuous is very common at the beginning of a story:
The other day I was waiting for a bus when …
Last week, as I was driving to work, …

• for something that happened before and after a specific time:


It was eight o'clock. I was writing a letter.
Compare: At eight o'clock I wrote (= started writing) some letters.
• to show that something continued for some time:
My head was aching.
Everyone was shouting.

• for something that happened again and again:


I was practising every day, three times a day.
They were meeting secretly after school.
They were always quarrelling.

• with verbs which show change or growth:


The children were growing up quickly.
Her English was improving.
My hair was going grey.
The town was changing quickly.
We do not normally use the past continuous with stative verbs. We use the
past simple instead:

When I got home, I really needed (NOT was needing) a shower.

Past continuous and past simple


When we use these two tenses together, it shows us that the past simple
action happened in the middle of the past continuous action, while it was in
progress.

While I was studying, I suddenly felt sleepy.


We often use these tenses to show an action interrupting another action.

I broke my leg when I was skiing.


As I was going to work, I saw an old friend.
We were watching television when the power went off.
Can you see a difference in the meaning of these two sentences?

When the guests arrived, Jane was cooking dinner.


When the guests arrived, Jane cooked dinner.
In the first one, Jane started cooking dinner before the guests arrived. We
know that because it uses the past continuous. In the second sentence, the
guests arrived first and then Jane started cooking.

Do this exercise to test your grammar again.

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