past simple, past continuous and used to

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 4,5

Talking about the past...

1. The past simple

Form: one word, for example: arrived, walked, laughed, but also: went, drove, were, saw etc.

or: didn't arrive / didn't walk / didn't go, and Did you see...?, Did we drive..? etc.

1. The past simple

Examples:

1. I left the house, closed the door, walked to the shed, took out my bicycle and headed to school.

2. I didn't check to see if my food was in my bag.

3. My dad shouted after me: "Did you remember to feed the cats??"

2. The past continuous

Form: be + -ing, for example: was walking, was laughing, were going, weren't driving, Was ... going? etc..

*You'll often see the past simple and past continuous together in one sentence.

2. The past continuous

Examples:

1. I was leaving the house when my dad suddenly stuck his head around the door.

2. I was feeding the cats when I heard a knock on the door.

3. When I arrived at school, the sun wasn't shining.

3. Used to

Form: used to + verb, for example: I used to walk / She used to see / Did you use to go / I didn't use to do etc..

*If you use "used to" in a question or negative form, be careful to drop the -d!

--> I didn't use to like mushrooms, but now I do.

3. Used to

Examples:

1. I used to leave the house early for school, but now I don't have to do that anymore.

2. Hey, didn't you use to have blond hair?

--> If you translate 'used to' in Dutch, you often end up with the word "vroeger" in your sentence.

Has this info been useful for you so far? (any answer is okay!)

Time to ask you a few questions...:

Choose the best option: When we _________ to the airport, a bird flew against the car window.

1. drove
2. was driving
3. were driving
4. used to drive

Choose the best option: I ___________ swimming, but I love it now.

1. didn't use to like
2. liked
3. was liking
4. didn't used to like

Choose the best option: Amy __________ around and saw a black dog standing behind her.

1. turned
2. was turning

If your answer to the last question was wrong:

We often use the past continuous (was turning in this case) as a kind of 'background picture'. Something 'was happening' and then something else happened while that was going on.

*But in this last example, Amy turned around and then saw the dog. In that case it's about events which happened one after another, and that's different.

Choose the best option: Did John ________ own a motorcycle?

1. used to
2. use to

Choose the best option: Sam took a photograph of me when I ______________.

1. didn't look
2. weren't looking
3. wasn't looking

Choose the best option: Last night I ________ a plate when I ________ the washing up.

1. was dropping / did
2. dropped / did
3. dropped / was doing
4. was dropping / was doing

Finish the sentence with your own answer: Last night I fell asleep while I ...

Finish the sentence with your own answer: When I was doing my homework, .....

Make a sentence with "used to" (*it has to be in the past!)

That concludes this topic. Any tips / comments on how useful this was?