PAST SIMPLE & CONTINUOUS

Past Simple Use it for… Signal words B E Completed past actions. Form Past Simple Use Completed past actions. One completed action after another. A past habit or regular past event. I/YOU/WE/THEY/HE/SHE/IT + S + verb in the SIMPLE PAST Regular verbs add –ed Spelling rules *1 syllable verbs (CVC) double the last consonant. fit – fitted/stop – stopped *1 syllable verbs ending in consonant + -y change –y to –i and add- ed. cry – cried / try – tried Irregular verbs  check verb list Use it for… Signal words last year/month/Sunday In 1992/June ago The past of verb to be is WAS/WERE + I was at home/They were at home He wasn’t at home /You weren’t at home ? Were you at home?/Was he at home? B E ? Did + S + verb (inf) Did she try? - S + didn’t + verb (inf) She didn’t try

YOU/WE/THEY WERE/WEREN’T Past Continuous Use Form Something which was in progress at a time in the past. Something which was going on in the background which set the scene for a specific event or action. + S + WAS/WERE + ing I was reading a book She was playing computer games They were listening to music. Use it for… ? WAS/WERE +S+ ing WAS I reading a book? WAS she playing computer games? WERE they listening to music.? Remember! - S + WASN’T/WEREN’T + ing I wasn’t reading a book She wasn’t playing computer games They weren’t listening to music. I WAS/WASN’T HE/SHE/IT WAS -WASN’T YOU/WE/THEY WERE/WEREN’T

Past Simple and Continuous We use the past simple and past continuous together to talk about an action that was in progress (past cont.) when another one happened (past simple) We often use WHEN before the action in the past simple and WHILE or AS before the action in the past continuous She was sleeping WHEN the phone rang. WHEN the phone rang, she was sleeping. The phone rang WHILE I was sleeping. WHILE I was sleeping, the phone rang.