Past tenses Review

Past simple You use the past simple to talk about finished actions and events in the past when there is a clear reference to a specific time in the past or when the past time reference is clearly implied or understood: I saw a great film last night. Did you see it too ? (It is clear in the context that the question refers to last night.) The past simple is often used with a past time expression such as yesterday, last week, three years ago.

Use the past simple to talk about the sequence of the main events in a story: When I arrived, they all stopped and looked at me. Time -----x x x  arrived stopped looked at me

Past continuous Use the past continuous with the past simple to explain that two actions happened at the same time. The action in the past continuous was in progress at the time the action in the past simple happened: When I arrived, everyone was laughing: arrived Time x  was laughing

The past simple action may interrupt the longer past continuous action: Everybody was laughing and talking when the door burst open. Suddenly they all stopped talking and turned around to look at the door. You don’t usually use stative verbs in the past continuous. Say I knew the waiter very well, (don’t say I was-knowing the waiter very well)

You use the past perfect simple to show that something happened before the main event: When I arrived, the party had already finished. Time x x  party had finished I arrived

If you use the past simple, it shows that one action happened after the other: When the police arrived, the party finished. Time x x  police arrived party finished

Past perfect continuous Use the past perfect continuous to talk about an action that was in progress before a given time in the past: He had been working hard all his life, but now it was time to retire. Time x  he’d been working hard he retired

It is possible that the action (working hard) finished before he retired, or at that point in time. It is also possible that it continued: he had been working hard all his life, and he had no intention of stopping, even after he’d retired. To form the past perfect continuous use: had + been + verb + -ing Affirmative and negative I/You/He/She/It/ ’d/had/working We/Theyhadn’t beenhard. Questions and answers Hadl/you/he/she/it/beenworking we/theyhard.

Past perfect continuous or past perfect simple? Use the past perfect simple to talk about: single, complete events: He’d worked as a truck driver. He’d bought a bike. repeated actions when we give the number of times the action is repeated: He’d done a lot of different jobs in his lifetime. Time ---x---x---x---x x x  he did a lot of different jobs he decided to retire he retired

Use the past perfect continuous to talk about how long an action, or series of actions, was in progress: He had been working hard all his life. He’d been riding his bike for five hours without stopping. You don’t usually use stative verbs in the past perfect continuous. Say I had known him for years, (don’t say I had been knowing him for years.)