Past tenses
Unit 5: past tenses
There are 4 past tenses you need to know. They are:
- Past simple I worked / I gave (didn't work / didn't give)
- Past continuous I was working / I was giving
- Past Perfect I had worked / I had given
- Past Perfect Continuous I had been working / I had been giving
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Slide 1: Slide
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This lesson contains 13 slides, with text slides and 4 videos.
Lesson duration is: 120 minItems in this lesson
Unit 5: past tenses
There are 4 past tenses you need to know. They are:
- Past simple I worked / I gave (didn't work / didn't give)
- Past continuous I was working / I was giving
- Past Perfect I had worked / I had given
- Past Perfect Continuous I had been working / I had been giving
Slide 1 - Slide
Slide 2 - Slide
Past simple: verb + -ed/2nd irregular
to talk about events in the past which:
a) occured at a particular time:
- I drove back from London last night
b) happened regularly (in the past):
- Matthew worked most weekends at
the supermarket.
Notice how there is always a time phrase that gives context.
Slide 3 - Slide
Past continuous: was/were & verb + -ing
to talk about events in the past which:
a) had a longer duration than another
action/was interrupted
- I was reading a book when my brother
barged in.
b) were temporary/didn't last long
- Barcelona was losing two-nil, with only
five minutes to go.
Slide 4 - Slide
Past perfect: had & verb + -ed/3rd irregular
to talk about events which:
a) happened earlier than
something else
When I had finished all
my exams I started going
out again.
We use to past perfect when it is important to show a time difference in the past, especially when you want to show in which order events took place.
Slide 5 - Slide
Past perfect continuous: had + been + verb & -ing
to talk about events:
a) that started in the past and
continued in the past before something
else happened in the past.
b) to express cause and effect of actions
taking place in the past. (He had been climbing the ladder when he fell and sprained his ankle.)
It is similar to the past perfect, but for this tense we focus on an ongoing action, as if often the case with a continuous tense.
Slide 6 - Slide
Use past simple, past continuous or past perfect to fill in the blanks in the story.
After many years working and saving, Mr Clark 4.......... (save) all the money he needed to take all his family to the United States. Earlier that afternoon he 5 ..........(buy) all the tickets that now he 6.......... (hold) in his hand. It was the opportunity of their lives. “The United States of America,” he repeated aloud just to see how nice it 7 ..........(sound) in his ears.
A few days before their departure, Mr Clark’s son 8.......... (play) in the street when a dog 9.......... (bite) him. The doctor 10.......... (go) to their home and 11 ..........(treat) the child’s wound. Then he 12.......... (hang) a yellow sheet on their front door. That yellow sheet meant that they 13.......... (just/be) quarantined. They 14.......... (have) to stay at home for two weeks because of the possibility of rabies.
Five days later, Mr Clark was at the docks. He 15.......... (leave) the house and now he 16.......... (watch) their ship leave to the United States without him or his family. When the ship 17 ..........(disappear) in the horizon, he 18.......... (stand up) and 19.......... (go) back home, crying.
A few days later, the tragic news spread throughout Scotland - the mighty Titanic 20 .......... (sink), taking hundreds of lives with it.
Slide 7 - Slide
1. happened ➪ We use the past simple to talk about completed actions in the past.
2. was walking
3. was carrying ➪ We use the past continuous the set the scene in a story.
4. had saved ➪ We use the past perfect simple (and not continuous) to say how much or how many we had done of something earlier in the past.
5. had bought ➪ We use the past perfect simple to talk about single actions completed earlier in the past.
6. was holding ➪ We use the past continuous for actions in progress in the past.
7. sounded ➪ The verbs of the senses (look, sound, taste, etc.) are stative verbs, which means that they cannot be used in continuous verb forms.
8. was playing
9. bit ➪ We use the past continuous when a longer action (was playing) is interrupted by a shorter action in past simple (bit).
10. went
11. treated
12. hung ➪ We use the past simple to talk about past events in chronological order; i.e. the main events of a story.13. had just been ➪ We use the past perfect simple to talk about single actions completed earlier in the past.
14. had ➪ We use the past simple to talk about past states.
15. had left ➪ We use the past perfect simple to talk about single actions completed earlier in the past.
16. was watching ➪ We use the past continuous for actions in progress in the past.
17. disappeared
18. stood up
19. went ➪ We use the past simple to talk about past events in chronological order; i.e. the main events of a story.
20. had sunk ➪ We use the past perfect simple to talk about earlier events and experiences.
Slide 8 - Slide
Now you try:
past simple or past continuous?:
past simple or present perfect?
past simple or past perfect?:
