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.
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