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

2. Find examples of past tense forms
“There’s a little fishing village where we used to spend our vacations 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 harbor 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.”
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3. Examples of past tense forms
“There’s a little fishing village where we used to spend our vacations 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 harbor 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.”
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4. past simple: form (regular verbs)
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.
infinitive + -ed
did not (didn’t) + infinitive without to
Did + subject + infinitive without to
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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.
infinitive + -ed
Did not (didn’t) + infinitive without to
Did + subject + infinitive without to
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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.
What did you do over the weekend?
I went to the movies, but I didn’t see a film. I met a friend and we went for coffee.
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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.”
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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 sweaters. Now most people buy them.
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9. used to and would
“My mother used to be an actress. She gave it up when she married my dad.”
“Grandpa was very superstitious. He would never open an umbrella indoors.”
used to emphasizes a routine that no longer takes place
would describes typical past behavior
___________ can describe situations and states in the past. We can’t use __________ in this way.
Used to
would
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10. past continuous: form Affirmative: Negative: Questions:
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 the hospital.
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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 broke.”
“While I was waiting for you, I finished the crossword puzzle.”
We can use as, when and _______ to introduce a longer background action.
while
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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 me when I called his name.” (= John looked after I called him.)
“John was looking at at me when I called his name.” (= John started looking before I called him.)
The ___________ is not used with stative verbs such as be or know.
past continuous
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13. Correct or incorrect?
Sarah was listening 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.  O  O
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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.  
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15. Find examples of perfect tense forms
“I’ve been in my current job for nearly five years. That’s really a long time at this company. They tend to give you long-service awards if you’ve been working here for as little as ten years! Things have changed a lot since my grandfather’s day. By the time he retired, he’d been working for the same company for forty years and had never felt the need to look for other employment that entire time.”
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16. Examples of perfect tense forms
“I’ve been in my current job for nearly five years. That’s really a long time at this company. They tend to give you long-service awards if you’ve been working here for as little as ten years! Things have changed a lot since my grandfather’s day. By the time he retired, he’d been working for the same company for forty years and had never felt the need to look for other employment that entire time.”
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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 > ______.
Have / has (‘ve / ‘s) + past participle
Have / has + not (haven’t / hasn’t) + past participle
Have / has + subject + past participle
seen
eaten
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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.
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19. present perfect simple: use
to talk about life experiences, often with ever or never
Have you ever
done bungee jumping?
No, I’ve never wanted to do that. I’ve tried paragliding though.
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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 year.”
“We haven’t lived in this town for very long.”
We use ______ + a period of time and ______ + a specific point in time.
for
since
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21. present perfect and past simple
for can be used after the past simple or present perfect simple; since is not used after the past simple
ago is used with the past simple
“He lived in France for a few years in the 1990s.”
“He lived in France a few years ago.”
NOT “He lived in France since 2008.”
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22. present perfect and past simple
With the present perfect simple, we can use:
“unfinished” time expressions such as so far, and until now
other time expressions such as still, already, and yet
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23. present perfect continuous: form
Affirmative:
Negative:
Questions:
Have / has (‘ve / ‘s) been + ing form
Have / has (‘ve / ‘s) not been + ing form
Have / has + subject + been + ing form
I’ve been washing dishes all morning, and I’m still not finished!
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24. present perfect continuous: use
to talk about an action that started in the past and continues up to the present
to give a reason for a present situation
with for and since to talk about how long something has been happening for
“The situation has been getting worse, and shows no signs of improvement.”
“I’m cold because I’ve been working in the basement.”
“It has been snowing for ten hours / since last night.”
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25. Correct or incorrect?
After our argument, Tina didn’t speak to me for ages.
I saved 250 dollars towards my new bike so far. I only need another $50.
She has been working here since just before Thanksgiving, 2005.
I saw Paul Taylor recently. He didn’t change much since we last saw him.  O  O
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26. Corrected.
I have saved 250 dollars towards my new bike so far. I only need another $50.
I saw Paul Taylor recently. He hasn’t changed much since we last saw him.  
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27. past perfect simple: form
Affirmative:
Negative:
Questions:
Had (‘d) + past participle
Had not (hadn’t) + past participle
Had + subject + past participle
No, we’d always
thought this was such
a safe area. There hadn’t
been any burglaries
before
this happened.
Had you seen or heard anything suspicious before the night in question?
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28. past perfect simple: use
to talk about an earlier past, before another time period or action
after verbs of thinking and saying
with expressions such as when, as soon as, by the time
“She was worried because Jo hadn’t called all day.”
“He realized that he had forgotten to pack his pajamas.”
“By the time I had finished reviewing everything, it was midnight.”
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29. past perfect continuous: form
Affirmative:
Negative:
Questions:
I was at school when I suddenly felt dizzy and fainted. In fact, I hadn’t been feeling very well earlier because I’d been playing volleyball all morning.
Had (‘d) + been + -ing
Had not (hadn’t) + been + -ing
Had + subject + been + -ing
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30. past perfect continuous: use
to describe a past action occurring before something else happened
to explain a past situation by describing what was happening beforehand
“Last week, Tim returned from Madrid, where he had been studying Spanish.”
“Ryan’s mother wasn’t pleased that he had been playing football in the mud and rain.”
Remember that we can’t use stative verbs such as be and know with a __________ form.
continuous
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31. Select the correct sentence
A I’m sick of paint! I’ve decorated the living room all morning. B I’m sick of paint! I’ve been decorating the living room all morning. A Leo started his novel in May last year, and by the time we met next, he had been writing it. B Leo started his novel in May last year, and by the time we met next, he had written it.  
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