THREE-PAST-TENSES

Form
 the form is the same for all persons
POSITIVE:
 They arrived three weeks ago. – REGULAR
 He left at three o’clock. – IRREGULAR
NEGATIVE:
 I didn’t play football yesterday
 I didn’t go home early on Saturday
INTERROGATIVE:
Yes/No questions:
 Did you play football yesterday?
 Did you go home early in Saturday?
WH-question – When did you learn last time?
Verb TO BE
 Positive sentences:
 I was in London last year
 Negative sentences:
-They weren’t at home last weekend
 Yes/No questions:
 Were you ill yesterday?
Use
 a finished action in the past
 We met in 2007.
 action that follow each other in a story
 Mary walked into the room and stopped
 a past situation or habit
 When I was a child, we lived in a small house by the sea.
SIGNAL WORDS / TIME EXPRESSIONS
- last night, ....... ago, yesterday, the other day, in 1999,
when I was younger....
Form
 Was / were + verb + -ing
 They were driving to Paris.
 I was writing my English homework all afternoon.
 We weren’t waiting for a long time.
 What were they doing?
 Was your friend listening to the teacher?
Use
 to express activities in progress before, and
probably after, a particular time in the past
 At 7 0’clock this morning I was having my breakfast.
 for descriptions
 Jan looked beautiful. She was wearing a green dress.
 to express an interrupted past activity
 When the phone rang, I was having a shower.
 to express an incomplete activity
 I was reading a book during the flight.
Past simple or continuous?
 Sometimes both tenses are possible. The Past Simple
focuses on past actions as complete facts. The Past
Continuous focuses on the duration of past activities
Compare :
 A:
I didn’t see you at the party last night.
 B: No. I stayed at home and watched the
football.
 A: I didn’t see you at the party last night.
 B: No, I was watching the football at home.
 perfect means ‘ completed before ‘
 the past perfect refers to an action in the past that was
completed before another action in the past
Form
Had + past participle
 I had seen him before.
 You hadn’t finished work at six o’clock.
 Had you written your homework before you came here?
 What had you been before?
Use
 to make clear that one action in the past happened
before another action in the past
 this is the past in the past
 When I got home, I found that I had forgotten my
books at the faculty.
On the timeline
had forgotten
got
had written
went
When I got home, I realized that I had forgotten my
books at the faculty.
I went for a walk after I had written the seminar paper,
Past Simple and Past Perfect combined
 the Past Simple tells a story in chronological order
 Sue met Pete at university. They were together for 6
years. They divorced last month.
 the Past Perfect can be used to tell a story in a different
order
 Sue and Pete divorced last month. They’d met at
university, and had been together for six years
Notice the difference between these sentences
 When I got to the party, Peter went home.
 ( = first I arrived, then Peter left )
 When I got to the party, Peter had gone home.
 ( = first Peter left, then I arrived )
 To talk about a past action that ended before another action or
time in the past, we use BEFORE and AFTER in combination with
the simple past
The film HAD STARTED before we ARRIVED.
 We also use the past perfect to show the cause of a past action
I WAS tired yesterday because I HADN’T SLEPT well the night before.
 With time expressions such as when, after, before, as soon as, by
the time, by and until
By the time I GOT home, my mother HAD already PREPARED dinner.
Match the sentence with the tense:
a) Past Perfect Simple, b) Past Simple, c) Past Continuous
 I did the week’s grocery shopping on my home
computer.____
 I hadn’t been to that party of town before._____
 Why were you running down the street?_____
Exercise:
 My brother _________ (get) married last year.
 We __________ (have) dinner when Sally called.
 John got to the cinema late and the film
________(start) when he arrived.
 I was driving home when the accident __________.
(happen)
 ____________(you / watch) TV when I phoned?
 I'd studied really hard but I_________(not pass) the
exam.
Exercise key:
 My brother got married last year.
 We were having dinner when Sally called.
 John got to the cinema late and the film had started
when he arrived.
 I was driving home when the accident happened.
 Were you watching TV when I phoned?
 I'd studied really hard but I didn’t pass the exam.