4H Past simple and past continuous

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 4

Welcome!

Road map

• Recap Present Simple & Present Continuous
• Discuss 1.1A
• Grammar Past Simple & Past Continuous
• Work on assignments

Books: your MO on the books you have read should be finished in the test week of period 2!

Lesson Goal

At the end of this class you 

apply the present simple and the present continuous correctly

and

you can recognise the past simple and continuous, know how to form them, and when to use them. 

Present Simple 

• iets wat vaak gebeurt (regelmaat) / gewoonte
• algemene regels (water boils at 100 degrees Celcius)
• permanente situaties 
• signaalwoorden: always, never, usually, often, every week/month/year etc.

No, nothing good starts in a getaway car

Present Continous 

• tijdelijke situaties  
• irritatie / ergernis (always, forever, continually, constantly etc.zijn signaalwoorden, dus let op!)

                   

I'm sittin' here in the boring room

It's just another rainy Sunday afternoon

I'm wasting my time

I got nothin' to do

Recognise - Past Simple

When she was just a girl she expected the world

But it flew away from her reach

So she ran away in her sleep and dreamed of

Para-para-paradise

Coldplay - Paradise (2011)

Recognise - the past simple

The daylight came. I rose at dawn. I busied myself for an hour or two with arranging my things in my chamber, drawers, and wardrobe, in the order wherein I should wish to leave them during a brief absence. Meantime, I heard St. John quit his room. He stopped at my door: I feared he would knock. 

Charlotte Brontë - Jane Eyre

Recognise - the past simple

When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.

J.R.R. Tolkien - The Fellowship of the Ring

Past simple 

• Something is clearly in the past with no link whatsoever to the present
•  Signal words: yesterday, two days ago, last night etc. (adverbs of time)
• 'When I was staying with my parents, they told me ...'

Recognise - Past Continuous

There she stood in the doorway;

I heard the mission bell

And I was thinking to myself,

"This could be Heaven or this could be Hell"

The Eagles - Hotel California

Recognise - the past continuous

It was dark. Deep night had fallen. There were many clear stars, but the fast-waning moon would not be seen till late. Gimli and Frodo were at the rear, [they were] walking softly and not speaking, [they were] listening for any sound upon the road behind. 

J.R.R. Tolkien - The Fellowship of the Ring

The past continous 

The past continuous shows us that the action started and finished in the past and can also show that an activity was in progress for some time, not just for a moment.

• temporary actions/events
• annoyance/irritations
• planned event in the near future 
• interrupted/parallel actions

Past simple & continuous

Can you see the difference in meaning in these two sentences?

When the guests arrived, Jane was cooking dinner.

When the guests arrived, Jane cooked dinner.

Past simple & continuous

Can you see the difference in meaning in these two sentences?

When the guests arrived, Jane was cooking dinner.

When the guests arrived, Jane cooked dinner.

In the first one, Jane started cooking dinner before the guests arrived. We know that because it uses the past continuous. In the second sentence, the guests arrived first and then Jane started cooking.

Past simple & continuous

When we use these two tenses together, it shows us that the past simple action happened in the middle of the past continuous action, while it was in progress.

 *** While I was studying, I suddenly felt sleepy.

We often use these tenses to show an action interrupting another action.

*** I broke my leg when I was skiing.

Looking ahead

Friday 10/09: Finish the assignments to Best Day Ever!

Tuesday 14/09: Finish the assignments to Splattt you're out!

Thursday 16/09: Finish the assignments belonging to Grammar 1.1B