1. Past tenses For FCE-level practice see Oxford Practice Grammar Intermediate Grammar from Oxford

2. Find examples of past tense forms Find examples of past tense forms ‘ There’s a little fishing village where we used to spend our holidays when I was little. The cottage had a lovely view of the sea. My brother and I would get up early every morning and run down to the harbour to watch the fishermen unloading their catch. They were always very busy. Often, one fishing boat was going out while another one was coming in. We stopped going there when we grew older, but I still think about it from time to time.’ Oxford Practice Grammar For FCE-level practice see

3. Examples of past tense forms ‘ There’s a little fishing village where we used to spend our holidays when I was little. The cottage had a lovely view of the sea. My brother and I would get up early every morning and run down to the harbour to watch the fishermen unloading their catch. They were always very busy. Often, one fishing boat was going out while another one was coming in. We stopped going there when we grew older, but I still think about it from time to time.’ Oxford Practice Grammar For FCE-level practice see

4. Affirmative: Negative: Questions: Spelling rules for affirmative Infinitive ending -e: add ___. Infinitive ending consonant + vowel + consonant: ______________ and add -ed. Infinitive ending consonant + -y: _______________ and add -ed. past simple: form (regular verbs) infinitive + -ed Oxford Practice Grammar For FCE-level practice see did not (didn’t) + infinitive without to Did + subject + infinitive without to

5. past simple: form (regular verbs) Affirmative: Negative: Questions: Spelling rules for affirmative Infinitive ending -e: add -d. Infinitive ending consonant + vowel + consonant: double the final consonant and add -ed. Infinitive ending consonant + -y: change the -y to an -i and add -ed. Oxford Practice Grammar For FCE-level practice see infinitive + -ed Did not (didn’t) + infinitive without to Did + subject + infinitive without to

6. past simple: form (irregular verbs) Negatives and questions are formed in the same way as for regular verbs. In the affirmative, many forms are irregular and must be learned individually, e.g. go > went, buy > bought. Oxford Practice Grammar For FCE-level practice see What did you do at the weekend? I went to the cinema but I didn’t see a film. I met a friend and we went for a coffee.

7. past simple: use to talk about past states or completed actions, often with a past time expression such as last to talk about past habits or routines, often with an adverb of frequency ‘Did you eat all that pizza?’ ‘He walked five miles every day.’ Oxford Practice Grammar For FCE-level practice see

8. used to and would used to and would are followed by infinitive without to. both can be used to describe repeated past actions and routines, in a similar way to the past simple When I was younger, people used to / would knit all their own jumpers. Now most people buy them. Oxford Practice Grammar For FCE-level practice see

9. used to and would ‘My mother used to be an actress. She gave it up when she married my dad.’ ‘Granddad was very superstitious. He would never open an umbrella indoors.’ used to emphasizes a routine that no longer takes place would describes typical past behaviour ___________ can describe situations and states in the past. We can’t use __________ in this way. Oxford Practice Grammar For FCE-level practice see Used to would

10. past continuous: form Affirmative: Negative: Questions: Oxford Practice Grammar For FCE-level practice see Was / were + -ing Was / were + not (wasn’t / weren’t) + -ing Was / were + subject + -ing Where were you going when I saw you earlier? I wasn’t going anywhere nice. I was visiting a friend in hospital.

11. past continuous: use to talk about a continuous past situation in progress at a particular time in the past to talk about a background to a second situation or event (when the past simple is used in parallel). ‘At two o’clock today I was having lunch with Molly.’ ‘We weren’t sitting by the window when it smashed.’ ‘While I was waiting for you, I finished the crossword.’ We can use as, when and _______ to introduce a longer background action. Oxford Practice Grammar For FCE-level practice see while

12. past continuous and past simple: use two past simple verbs can be used to refer to one action that follows another Compare: ‘John looked at at me when I called his name.’ (= John looked after I called to him.) ‘John was looking at at me when I called his name.’ (= John started looking before I called to him.) The ___________ is not used with state verbs such as be or know. Oxford Practice Grammar For FCE-level practice see past continuous

13. Correct or incorrect? Sarah listened to some loud music when I got in. I could hear it from the next street! As I was waiting for my interview, I got more and more nervous. When we lived near the sea, we went swimming every day. My parents would be in a band together, but that was a long time ago. Oxford Practice Grammar For FCE-level practice see  

14. Corrected As I was waiting for my interview, I got more and more nervous. My parents were in a band together, but that was a long time ago. Oxford Practice Grammar For FCE-level practice see

15. Find examples of perfect tense forms Find examples of perfect tense forms ‘ I’ve been in my present job for nearly five years. That’s quite a long time at this company. They tend to give you long-service medals if you’ve been working here for as little as ten years! Things have changed a lot since my granddad’s day. By the time of his retirement, he’d been working for the same company for forty years and had never felt the need to look for other employment in all that time.’ Oxford Practice Grammar For FCE-level practice see

16. Examples of perfect tense forms ‘ I’ve been in my present job for nearly five years. That’s quite a long time at this company. They tend to give you long-service medals if you’ve been working here for as little as ten years! Things have changed a lot since my granddad’s day. By the time of his retirement, he’d been working for the same company for forty years and had never felt the need to look for other employment in all that time.’ Oxford Practice Grammar For FCE-level practice see

17. present perfect simple: form Affirmative: Negative: Questions: The past participle form of regular verbs is often the same as the past simple form. Irregular forms must be learned individually, e.g. see > saw > ______, eat > ate > ______. Oxford Practice Grammar For FCE-level practice see Have / has (‘ve / ‘s) + past participle Have / has + not (haven’t / hasn’t) + past participle Have / has + subject + past participle seeneaten

18. present perfect simple: use to talk about past actions or states that have a result in the present, or which have happened recently Someone’s broken the vase. Oxford Practice Grammar For FCE-level practice see

19. present perfect simple: use to talk about life experiences, often with ever or never Oxford Practice Grammar For FCE-level practice see Have you ever done bungee jumping? No, I’ve never wanted to do that. I’ve tried paragliding though.

20. present perfect simple: use with since or for, to describe a period of time that has passed ‘I’ve had this computer since last Christmas.’ ‘We haven’t lived in this town for very long.’ We use ______ + a period of time and ______ + a specific point in time. Oxford Practice Grammar For FCE-level practice see for since