Simple Past and Past Continuous 101 IRW
Simple Past 1. Used to talk about an action that started and finished at a specific time in the past. Example • I saw a movie yesterday.
2. Used to list a series of completed actions in the past. These actions happen 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and so on. Example • I finished work, walked to the beach, and
found a nice place to swim.
3. Used with a duration which starts and stops in the past. Example • They sat at the beach all day.
4. Used to describe a habit which stopped in the past. It can have the same meaning as “used to.”
Example • I studied French when I was a child.
Spelling Rules Regular Verbs The Simple Past tense of most English verbs (regular verbs) is formed by adding
"ed"/"d" to their base form. (If the verb ends in "-e", we add "-d" to form the past simple)
Example • We arrived at 9:00 o'clock. = arrive + d
• We worked all morning. = work+ ed
Spelling Rules • If a regular verb ends in consonant + y change y to i and add -ed: carry - carried, study - studied, fry fried, try - tried • If a one syllable regular verb ends in consonant + vowel + consonant double the final consonant and add -ed -- > stop - stopped, plan - planned, rob robbed, beg - begged
Irregular Verbs  There are also some verbs called irregular verbs that have special past tense forms. Example • We went (go) to school yesterday.
Become
Became
Give
Gave
Drive
Drove
Forget
Forgot
Teach
Taught
Bring
Brought
Leave
Left
Hear
Heard
Buy
bought
See
Saw
The Past Continuous 1. Used to indicate that a longer action in the past was interrupted. The interruption is usually a shorter action in the Simple Past. Example • I was watching TV when she called.
2. Used to show what somebody was doing at a particular time in the past. Example • They were playing tennis at 6:30 last night. • Ahmed was playing football at this time yesterday. Was/ were + verb+ing
• We often use the past continuous and past simple tenses in the same sentence. • We do this when we want to talk about a shorter activity that happened during a longer activity in the past. Example • Short action while longer action • Sarah cut herself while she was cutting the apple.
• Sometimes we use the past continuous tense to talk about two or more actions which were taking place at the same time in the past. Example • I was playing video games while my mother was cooking.
We use the past continuous to describe a longer action.
I spoke to Tom yesterday.
I was speaking to Tom yesterday.
While vs. When • When you talk about things in the past, "when" is most often followed by the verb tense Simple Past, whereas "while" is usually followed by Past Continuous. "While" expresses the idea of "during that time.“ Example • I was studying when she called. • While I was studying, she called.
Summary • In the Simple Past, a specific time is used to show when an action began or finished. • In the Past Continuous, a specific time only interrupts the action.