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The past continuous is made from the past tense of the verb and the -ing form of a verb:

We use the past continuous to talk about the past:

Compare: The children did their homework when (= after) I got home.

This use of the past continuous is very common at the beginning of a story:

The other day I was waiting for a bus when ...
Last week, asI was driving to work, ...

for something that happened before and after a specific time:

Compare: At eight o'clock I wrote (= started writing) some letters.

to show that something continued for some time:

for something that happened again and again:

I was practising every day, three times a day.
Theywere meeting secretly after school.
Theywere always quarrelling.

with verbs which show change or growth:

The children were growing up quickly.
Her Englishwas improving.
My hairwas going grey.
The townwas changing quickly.

We do not normally use the past continuous with stative verbs.We use the past simple instead:
Level: intermediate
Past continuous and hypotheses

We can also use the past continuous to refer to the present or future in hypotheses (when we imagine something). See these pages:

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The past continuous is made from the past tense of the verb and the -ing form of a verb: We use the past continuous to talk about the past : Compare: The children did their homework when (= after) I got home.

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Past Perfect Tense-Grammar Rules | Grammarly

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The past perfect, also called the pluperfect, is a verb tense used to talk about actions that were completed before some point in the past.

We were shocked to discover that someone had graffitied "Tootles was here" on our front door. We were relieved that Tootles had used washable paint.

The past perfect tense is for talking about something that happened before something else. Imagine waking up one morning and stepping outside to grab the newspaper. On your way back in, you notice a mysterious message scrawled across your front door: Tootles was here. When you're telling this story to your friends later, how would you describe this moment? You might say something like:

I turned back to the house and saw that someone named Tootles had defaced my front door!

In addition to feeling indignant on your behalf, your friends will also be able to understand that Tootles graffitied the door at some point in the past before the moment this morning when you saw his handiwork, because you used the past perfect tense to describe the misdeed.

The past perfect formula

The formula for the past perfect tense is had + [past participle]. It doesn't matter if the subject is singular or plural; the formula doesn't change.

When to use the past perfect

So what's the difference between past perfect and simple past? When you're talking about some point in the past and want to reference an event that happened even earlier, using the past perfect allows you to convey the sequence of the events. It's also clearer and more specific. Consider the difference between these two sentences:

We were relieved that Tootles used washable paint. We were relieved that Tootles had used washable paint.

It's a subtle difference, but the first sentence doesn't tie Tootles's act of using washable paint to any particular moment in time; readers might interpret it as "We were relieved that Tootles was in the habit of using washable paint." In the second sentence, the past perfect makes it clear that you're talking about a specific instance of using washable paint.

Another time to use the past perfect is when you are expressing a condition and a result:

If I had woken up earlier this morning, I would have caught Tootles red-handed.

The past perfect is used in the part of the sentence that explains the condition (the if-clause).

Most often, the reason to write a verb in the past perfect tense is to show that it happened before other actions in the same sentence that are described by verbs in the simple past tense. Writing an entire paragraph with every verb in the past perfect tense is unusual.

When not to use the past perfect

Don't use the past perfect when you're not trying to convey some sequence of events. If your friends asked what you did after you discovered the graffiti, they would be confused if you said:

I had cleaned it off the door.

They'd likely be wondering what happened next because using the past perfect implies that your action of cleaning the door occurred before something else happened, but you don't say what that something else is. The "something else" doesn't always have to be explicitly mentioned, but context needs to make it clear. In this case there's no context, so the past perfect doesn't make sense.

How to make the past perfect negative

Making the past perfect negative is simple! Just insert not between had and [past participle].

We looked for witnesses, but the neighbors had not seen Tootles in the act. If Tootles had not included his own name in the message, we would have no idea who was behind it.

How to ask a question

The formula for asking a question in the past perfect tense is had + [subject] + [past participle].

Had Tootles caused trouble in other neighborhoods before he struck ours?

Common regular verbs in the past perfect tense

Common irregular verbs in the past perfect tense

*The past participle of "to get" is "gotten" in American English. In British English, the past participle is "got."

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The past perfect, also called the pluperfect, is a verb tense used to talk about actions that were completed before some point in the past. We were shocked to discover that someone had graffitied "Tootles was here" on our front door. We were relieved that Tootles had used washable paint.

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Look at these examples to see how the past perfect is used. He couldn't make a sandwich because he'd forgotten to buy bread. The hotel was full, so I was glad that we'd booked in advance. My new job wasn't exactly what I'd expected. Try this exercise to test your grammar.

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The past continuous is made from the past tense of the verb be and the –ing form of a verb.

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The past continuous is made from the past tense of the verb be and the –ing form of a verb.

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https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/past-perfect-continuous-past-simple-exercise-1.html

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Past Simple or Past Perfect Continuous Exercise 1

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Exercise where you have to choose the past simple or the past perfect continuous.

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https://www.grammarly.com/blog/past-perfect-continuous-tense/

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How to Use the Past Perfect Continuous Tense | Grammarly

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The past perfect continuous (also known as the past perfect progressive) is a that shows that an action that started in the past continued up another time in the past.

How to form the past perfect continuous

The formula for the past perfect continuous tense is had been + [present participle (root form of verb + -ing)].

Unlike the present perfect continuous , which indicates an action that began in the past and has continued up to the present, the past perfect continuous indicates something that began in the past, continued in the past, and also ended at a defined point in the past.

had been playing the piano for thirty-five years when she was finally asked to do a solo with the local orchestra.

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Past Perfect Continuous Tense: How to Use It, With Examples

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What is the past perfect continuous tense, and when should you use it? Avoid grammar errors by quickly learning the rules of this tricky verb tense.

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Teorija, uzdevumi un testi tēmā Past continuous, Past tenses, 10. - 12. klase, Angļu valoda.

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https://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/pastperfectcontinuous.html

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The past perfect continuous (also called past perfect progressive) is a verb tense which is used to show that an action started in the past and continued up to another point in the past. Read on for detailed descriptions, examples, and present perfect continuous exercises.

Past Perfect Continuous Forms

The past perfect continuous is formed using had + been + present participle. Questions are indicated by inverting the subject and had. Negatives are made with not

Statement: You had been waiting there for more than two hours when she finally arrived.

Question: Had you been waiting there for more than two hours when she finally arrived?

Negative: You had not been waiting there for more than two hours when she finally arrived.

Complete List of Past Perfect Continuous Forms

Past Perfect Continuous Uses

USE 1 Duration Before Something in the Past

We use the past perfect continuous to show that something started in the past and continued up until another time in the past. For five minutes and for two weeks are both durations which can be used with the past perfect continuous. Notice that this is related to the present perfect continuous; however, the duration does not continue until now, it stops before something else in the past.

Examples:

They had been talking for over an hour before Tony arrived.

She had been working at that company for three years when it went out of business.

How long had you been waiting to get on the bus?

Mike wanted to sit down because he had been standing all day at work.

James had been teaching at the university for more than a year before he left for Asia.

A: How long had you been studying Turkish before you moved to Ankara?
B: Ihad not been studying Turkish very long.

USE 2 Cause of Something in the Past

Using the past perfect continuous before another action in the past is a good way to show cause and effect.

Examples:

Jason was tired because he had been jogging.

Sam gained weight because he had been overeating.

Betty failed the final test because she had not been attending class.

Past Continuous vs. Past Perfect Continuous

If you do not include a duration such as for five minutes, for two weeks, or since Friday, many English speakers choose to use the past continuous rather than the past perfect continuous. Be careful because this can change the meaning of the sentence. Past continuous emphasizes interrupted actions, whereas past perfect continuous emphasizes a duration of time before something in the past. Study the examples below to understand the difference.

Examples:

He was tired because he was exercising so hard.

He was tired because he had been exercising so hard.

REMEMBER Non-Continuous Verbs / Mixed Verbs

It is important to remember that Non-continuous verbs cannot be used in any continuous tenses. Also, certain non-continuous meanings for mixed verbs cannot be used in continuous tenses. Instead of using past perfect continuous with these verbs, you must use past perfect.

Examples:

The motorcycle had been belonging to George for years before Tina bought it. Not Correct

The motorcycle had belonged to George for years before Tina bought it. Correct

ADVERB PLACEMENT

The examples below show the placement for grammar adverbs such as always, only, never, ever, still, just, etc.

Examples:

You had only been waiting there for a few minutes when she arrived.

Had you only been waiting there for a few minutes when she arrived?

ACTIVE / PASSIVE

Examples:

Chef Jones had been preparing the restaurant's fantastic dinners for two years before he moved to Paris.

The restaurant's fantastic dinners had been being prepared by Chef Jones for two years before he moved to Paris.

NOTE: Passive forms of the past perfect continuous are not common.
More About Active / Passive Forms
Past Perfect Continuous Exercises

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Complete description of the past perfect continuous verb tense with past perfect continuous exercises and examples. ( A.k.a. past perfect progressive )

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https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/past-perfect-progressive/exercises

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Exercise on Past Perfect Progressive :: page Default

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With most verbs, the past tense is formed by adding -ed:

But there are a lot of irregular past tense forms in English. Here are the most common irregular verbs in English, with their past tense forms:

We use the past tense to talk about:

something that happened once in the past:

something that happened several times in the past:

something that was true for some time in the past:

we often use expressions with ago with the past simple:

Past simple questions and negatives

We use to make questions with the past simple:

But questions with who often don't use did:
Who discovered penicillin?
Who wrote Don Quixote?

Past simple questions 1

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Past simple questions 2

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We use didn't ( did not) to make with the past simple:

Past simple negatives 1

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Past simple negatives 2

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Level: intermediate
Past simple and hypotheses

We can also use the past simple to refer to the present or future in hypotheses (when we imagine something). See these pages:

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Learn how to use the past simple to talk about the past, and do the exercises to practise using it.

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Often, to describe the background in a story written in the past tense, e.g. "The sun was shining and the birds were singing as the elephant came out of the jungle. The other animals were relaxing in the shade of the trees, but the elephant moved very quickly. She was looking for her baby, and she didn't notice the hunter who was watching her through his binoculars. When the shot rang out, she was running towards the river..."to describe an unfinished action that was interrupted by another event or action, e.g. "I was having a beautiful dream when the alarm clock rang."to express a change of mind: e.g. "I was going to spend the day at the beach but I've decided to get my homework done instead."with 'wonder', to make a very polite request: e.g. "I was wondering if you could baby-sit for me tonight."

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Often, to describe the background in a story written in the past tense, e.g. "The sun was shining and the birds were singing as the elephant came out of the jungle. The other animals were relaxing in the shade of the trees, but the elephant moved very quickly. She was looking for her baby, and she didn't notice the hunter who was watching her through his binoculars. When the shot rang out, she was running towards the river..."to describe an unfinished action that was interrupted by another event or action, e.g. "I was having a beautiful dream when the alarm clock rang."to express a change of mind: e.g. "I was going to spend the day at the beach but I've decided to get my homework done instead."with 'wonder', to make a very polite request: e.g. "I was wondering if you could baby-sit for me tonight."

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(also called the simple past tense)

Click here to download this explanation as a pdf.
Click here to learn about how to USE the past simple.

It's similar to the present simple because it has different rules for the verb 'be', which becomes 'was' or 'were':
The Past Simple with 'be'
Here's how to make the positive:

To make the negative with 'be', just add 'not':

Here's an exercise to practise the positive and negative forms with 'be'

To make a question, just like the present simple, we change the position of 'was / were' and the subject.

Here are the past simple 'yes / no' questions with 'be':

And the 'wh' questions with 'be' (the question word just goes at the beginning, everything else is the same):

And here's an exercise for 'wh' and 'yes / no' questions

Here's another exercise with 'be' (this time it's all forms - positive, negative and questions)

The Past Simple (Simple Past) with Other Verbs

We make the past simple just like the present simple except we use 'did' instead of 'do / does'. It's really easy because 'did' doesn't change, even with 'he / she / it'.

The positive:

We usually make the positive by adding '-ed' to the infinitive. For example, 'play' becomes 'played'. However, there are some irregular verbs, for example 'go' becomes 'went' and 'run' becomes 'ran'.

(Here's some help if you are not sure how to pronounce '-ed' at the end of a verb).

Click here for a list of 50 common irregular verbs (PDF file)

Click here for an exercise about irregular verbs in this verb tense

Click here for another irregular verb exercise

In the negative there aren't any irregular verbs. All verbs use 'did not (didn't) + infinitive':

Here's an exercise about the negative form

Questions are also very easy. Just put 'did' before the subject, and the infinitive after it.

Here are the 'yes / no' questions:

And here's an exercise about 'yes / no' questions

To make a 'wh' question, of course, put the question word at the beginning of the sentence:

And here's an exercise about 'wh' questions

Here are some exercises about making all the forms:
Mixed Exercise 1
Mixed Exercise 2
Mixed Exercise 3
Mixed Exercise 4
Click here to learn about when we use this tense

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Easy explanations and examples about how to make the past simple (or simple past) tense in English with lots of exercises and quizzes.

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https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verb-tenses_past-perfect-continuous.htm

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The Past Perfect Continuous is another tense that expresses the "past in the past".

In this lesson we look at the structure and use of the Past Perfect Continuous tense, followed by a quiz to check your understanding.

Note that continuous tenses are also called progressive tenses. So the Past Perfect Continuous tense is sometimes called the Past Perfect Progressive tense.

How do we make the Past Perfect Continuous tense?

The structure of the Past Perfect Continuous tense is:

subject

+

auxiliary have

+

auxiliary be

+

main verb

conjugated in Past Simple

past participle

had been present participle

The first auxiliary verb (have) is conjugated in the Past Simple, invariable: had

The second auxiliary verb (be) is invariable in past participle form: been

The main verb is invariable in present participle form: -ing

For negative sentences we insert not after the first auxiliary verb.

For question sentences, we exchange the subject and the first auxiliary verb.

Look at these example sentences with the Past Perfect Continuous tense:

subject

auxiliary verb

auxiliary verb

main verb

Contraction with Past Perfect Continuous

When we use the Past Perfect Continuous in speaking, we often contract the subject and the first auxiliary verb. We also sometimes do this in informal writing.

I had been

I'd been

you had been

you'd been

he had been
she had been
it had been

he'd been
she'd been
it'd been

we had been

we'd been

they had been

they'd been

He'd been drinking all day.

It'd been pouring with rain.

In negative sentences, we may contract the first auxiliary verb and "not":

We hadn't been living there long.

They hadn't been studying very hard.

How do we use the Past Perfect Continuous tense?

The Past Perfect Continuous tense is like the Past Perfect tense, but it expresses longer actions in the past before another action in the past. For example:

Ram started waiting at 9am. I arrived at 11am. When I arrived, Ram had been waiting for two hours.

past present future

Ram starts waiting in past at 9am.

I arrive in past at 11am.

Ram had been waiting for two hours when I arrived.

Here are some more examples:

John was very tired. He had been running.

I could smell cigarettes. Somebody had been smoking.

Suddenly, my car broke down. I was not surprised. It had not been running well for a long time.

Had the pilot been drinking before the crash?

You can sometimes think of the Past Perfect Continuous tense like the Present Perfect Continuous tense, but instead of the time being now the time is before.

have
been
doing
→

had
been
doing
→

past present future

For example, imagine that you meet Ram at 11am. Ram says to you:

"I am angry. I have been waiting for two hours."

Later, you tell your friends:

"Ram was angry. He had been waiting for two hours."

Past Perfect Continuous Quiz

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The Past Perfect Continuous is another tense that expresses the "past in the past". In this lesson we look at the structure and use of the Past Perfect Continuous tense, followed by a quiz to check your understanding. Note that continuous tenses are also called progressive tenses.

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https://www.wallstreetenglish.com/exercises/the-past-perfect-continuous

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The Past Perfect Continuous - Wall Street English

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The past perfect simple is used to refer to something more in the past than another action or situation. Read on to find out more!

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Teorija, uzdevumi un testi tēmā Past Simple, Grammar, 4. - 6. klase, Angļu valoda.

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Basic simple past:I/you/he/she/it/we/they helpedExpanded (emphatic) simple past:I/you/he/she/it/we/they did helpQuestion form:Did I/you/he/she/it/we/they help?Negative:I/you/he/she/it/we/they did not (didn't) helpNegative question:Did I/you/he/she/it/we/they not help? / Didn't I/you/he/she/it/we/they help?Base formAfirmative (+) S + verb(ed) + cNegative (-) S + did not ( didn't) + verb + C

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Basic simple past:I/you/he/she/it/we/they helpedExpanded (emphatic) simple past:I/you/he/she/it/we/they did helpQuestion form:Did I/you/he/she/it/we/they help?Negative:I/you/he/she/it/we/they did not (didn't) helpNegative question:Did I/you/he/she/it/we/they not help? / Didn't I/you/he/she/it/we/they help?Base formAfirmative (+) S + verb(ed) + cNegative (-) S + did not ( didn't) + verb + C

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https://www.wallstreetenglish.com/exercises/using-the-past-perfect-tense-in-english

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Having the right skills to be able to speak in detail about the past in English is a great advantage, whether it's at work or on holiday. You're probably already very familiar with the simple past and present perfect, and have perhaps also learned to use the past continuous.

The past perfect tense, gives you the missing link that enables you to compare different times and actions in the past. Try our fun quiz and then read on to find out more!

The Past Perfect

This past tense is another really useful structure to introduce to the language you use. It's fairly easy to create and has the same form for all the subjects, like the simple past. As with the past continuous, the past perfect is almost always used in combination with another past tense, usually the simple past.

How to form the past perfect

We form the past perfect by using 'had' and the past participle of the verb. For example,
"You had met him before."
To make questions we invert the auxiliary verb had and the subject:
"Had you met him before?"
And to make negative forms we add 'not' to 'had':
"You hadn't met him before."
Here is a table with a complete set of examples:

The short answer form is Yes, I had./No, I hadn't.

When to use the Past Perfect

We use the past perfect to refer to something that happened more in the past than something else. For this reason it's almost always used with another phrase in the simple past. For example,

Bob was exhausted. He had worked hard all day.It's common to use the following adverbs with the past perfect like already, just, never, previously. These are positioned between had and the past participle. We can also use yet with the past perfect, and put it at the end of the sentence. Here are some examples.
When Miguel arrived, the party had already started. The kids were really excited about visiting the fun park. They'd never been before. I didn't go to see the film with my friends because I'd already seen it. When we went outside it had just begun to rain. The new CEO joined the company last month. She'd previously worked for a pharmaceutical firm. My brother sold his car on Saturday. He'd had it for 20 years! When we got to the airport we realized we'd left the tickets at home. Tim had just retired when you joined the firm, hadn't he? Had the boys already done their homework when you spoke to them?
Past perfect or past simple?

When you're describing past actions in chronological order (in the order they happened from first to last), use the simple past. For example,
Yesterday my alarm didn't ring so I woke up late and missed the bus.
If you're talking about the past but want to refer to something that happened at an earlier time, you need to use the past perfect. For example,
Yesterday I woke up late and missed the bus because my alarm hadn't rung. I arrived at work late because I'd missed the bus.
Past perfect continuous

As well as the simple version of the past perfect, there is a continuous form. This is again used to refer to an action more in the past than something else but it underlines an ongoing action rather than one single event. For example,
When we arrived, Laura's Mum had been cooking for six hours!
The form is the same for all the subjects, as with the past perfect simple. The continuous form is created by using 'had been' + the -ing form of the verb. For example,
He had been walking They had been waiting Had you been sleeping?
Here are some other examples:
She'd been studying for hours when she finally took a break. How long had you been waiting when the train arrived? It'd been snowing for hours when it eventually stopped this afternoon. Where had he been playing before he moved to this club? When Kim walked into the office, the two receptionists had just been arguing. The dog had been sleeping when the children ran outside and woke him up.
Past perfect simple or continuous?

If you want to refer to a single action or event, use the past perfect simple. For example,
I didn't have a coffee with my colleagues because I'd already had one at home.
If you want to focus on something ongoing before another action or event in the past, use the continuous form. For example,
When the boss arrived at the meeting, the team had been discussing some new proposals.
As with other continuous tenses, there are some verbs that can't be used with the past perfect continuous because they are stative verbs rather than action verbs. These include the verbs be, cost, know, love, like, hate, have (for possession), own. So with these and similar verbs, only use the past perfect simple. For example,

When we got married, Bill and I had known each other for ten years. (NOT 'Bill and I had been knowing each other'.)

By learning how to use the past perfect, you can really take your English conversation to another level. However, it's certainly a tense you need to hear and practice a lot, as with the other past tenses.

In the Wall Street English course you can become familiar with the past perfect in a natural way by seeing it used in context in our online video story, and then become confident in reproducing it yourself through speech and writing. You can also do some fun interactive quizzes to help you practice further.

Try this short, fun quiz to see how much you've learnt about the past perfect.

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Using The Past Perfect Tense in English - Wall Street English

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Having the right skills to be able to speak in detail about the past in English is a great advantage, whether it's at work or on holiday. You're probably already very familiar with the simple past and present perfect, and have perhaps also learned to use the past continuous.

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Past perfect continuous exercises. The past perfect progressive in English - exercises for intermediate and advanced level esl

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Past Perfect Tense

The Past Perfect Tense describes the action, situation, or activity that happened before any other took place in the past. The word perfect means completed.
It is a combination of the with a perfect aspect and is also called a pluperfect in the English Language.

Formula of Past Perfect Tense
Subject + had + Verb (past participle) + object.
Here, the modal verb "had" is used with the main verb, and the verb is in the past participle form that shows the action is perfectly completed.

For example
She had forgotten my birthday.
They had won the Pro title in Kabaddi.

Sentence Structure & Rules

There are three possibilities of writing any sentence or a statement in present continuous tense form,

1. Positive statements
[Subject + had + verb (past participle) + object]

2. [Subject + had + not + verb (past participle)+ object]

3. [Wh- type word(if necessary) + had + subject + verb (past participle) + object + ?]

Examples of Past Prefect Tense

You had gone to Mauritius for a business meeting.

You hadn't gone to Mauritius for a business meeting.

Had you gone to Mauritius for a business meeting?

The carpenter had completed the furniture work.

The carpenter had not completed the furniture work.

Had the carpenter completed the furniture work?

He had come from the office.

He had not come from the office.

Why had he come from the office?

They had finished the snacks.

They hadn't finished the snacks.

Why had they finished the snacks?

Exercise of Past Perfect Tense

Complete the following sentence using the appropriate verbs to make it a past perfect tense statement .
(perform, announce, prepare, come, do, imagine, submit, tell, complete, jump, go, rescue, explain, leave, study)

1. I _____never ___ that you did that school.

2. She __________ anywhere to buy clothes.

3. He _______well in the practice session of the football match.

4. _____he_____ the project documents?

5. Marla and Andrew _____ their marriage yet officially.

6. The train ______ already at the station by the time before I reached there.

7. Why _______ you back from London?

8. He ______ from the airplane with the parachute.

Answers

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Past Perfect Tense: Definition, Examples, Formula & Rules

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The Past Perfect Tense describes the action, situation, or activity that happened before any other took place in the past. The word perfect means completed.It is a combination of the with a perfect aspect and is also called a pluperfect in the English Language. Subject + had + Verb (past participle) + object.

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Teorija, uzdevumi un testi tēmā Past simple, Past tenses, 10. - 12. klase, Angļu valoda.

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We use the present simple in the first and the zero conditionals.

If it rains, we won't come.

If you heat water to 100 degrees, it boils.

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The following are basic examples of the past continuous tense. The verb tense in each sentence is underlined.

When we got to the house yesterday morning, the baby was drinking a bottle.

He was waiting at home all day when she sent him the message.

Alan was cutting the grass the other day when the snake appeared.

I was not sleeping when you got home late last night.

You can also use this tense to make a question. Examples of this use include:

What were you doing when the alarm went off last night?

Were you calling me when I emailed you this afternoon?

What was she doing this time yesterday?

Past continuous tense is often combined with past simple tense. An example of this combination is: While we were sitting at the stadium, the rain began. The past continuous tense is "were sitting" and the past simple is "began."

In this combination, the simple past tense interrupted the past progressive tense action. This pairing shows that something happened in the middle of something else happening.
Past continuous tense can also be used when describing the background of a story written in the past tense. Examples of this use include:

The sun was shining brightly when...

Last month as I was sitting outside...

The other day I was waiting at the airport when...

Last week as I was sitting in traffic....

When the alarm went off yesterday, we were running towards the road...

Past continuous tense can be used when describing an unfinished action that was interrupted by another action. The action in the past started before the other action and continued after for a short period of time. Examples of this use include:

I was having a great conversation with him when his ex-girlfriend interrupted it.

I was having a terrifying dream when the alarm clock went off at six o'clock this morning.

While we were playing tennis, it started to rain.

I was listening to my music, so I didn't hear the phone ring.

While she was sleeping, someone took her phone.

I was making dinner when he arrived at my house this evening.

Past continuous can also be used to express a change of mind or thought that happened in the past. Examples of this use include:

He was going to pack a ham sandwich for lunch but he decided to make a peanut butter and jelly instead.

Dan was going to accept the job offer in New York but changed his mind later.

I was going to spend the afternoon at the mall but decided to stay home instead.

Past continuous tense can be used to show that two actions were going on at the same time in the past. Neither of these actions are happening in the present. Examples of this use include:

Marc was making pizza while Anthony was watching him.

She was playing the piano while Ann was singing on stage.

We were sitting outside while the planes were flying overhead.

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Simple Past Tense: How to Use It, With Examples | Grammarly

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The simple past is a verb tense that is used to talk about things that happened or existed before now. Imagine someone asks you what your brother Wolfgang did while he was in town last weekend.

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The simple past tense shows that you are talking about something that has already happened. Unlike the past continuous tense, which is used to talk about past events that happened over a period of time, the simple past tense indicates that the action occurred at a certain time and then was completed.

You can also use the simple past to talk about a past state of being, such as the way someone felt about something. This is often expressed with the simple past tense of the verb to be and an adjective, noun, or prepositional phrase.

How to form the simple past

For regular verbs, add -ed to the root form of the verb (or just -d if the root form ends in an e):

Play→Played

Type→Typed

Listen→Listened

Push→Pushed

Love→Loved

For irregular verbs, things get more complicated. The simple past tense of some irregular verbs looks exactly like the root form:

Put→Put

Cut→Cut

Set→Set

Cost→Cost

Hit→Hit

For other irregular verbs, including to be, the simple past forms are more erratic:

See→Saw

Build→Built

Do→Did

Rise→Rose

Am/Is/Are→Was/Were

The good news is that verbs in the simple past tense (except for to be) don't need to agree in number with their subjects.

How to make the simple past negative

Fortunately, there is a formula for making simple past verbs negative, and it's the same for both regular and irregular verbs (except for the verb to be). The formula is did not + [root form of verb]. You can also use the contraction didn't instead of did not.

For the verb to be, you don't need the auxiliary did. When the subject of the sentence is singular, use was not or wasn't. When the subject is plural, use were not or weren't.

The fourth-place winner wasn't happy at all.

The onlookers were not ready to leave after the contest ended.

The contestants weren't ready to leave either.

How to ask a question

The formula for asking a question in the simple past tense is did + [subject] + [root form of verb].
Did Wolfgang win Did the judges decide fairly, in your opinion? Was Did people take lots of pictures? Wolfgang in a good mood after the contest? the gold medal or the silver medal?
When asking a question with the verb to be, you don't need the auxiliary did. The formula is was/were + [subject].

Common regular verbs in the past tense

Common irregular verbs in the past tense

Simple past tense FAQs
"I ate cereal for breakfast this morning." "Morganucodon was an early mammal that lived with dinosaurs."
What is the simple past tense?

The simple past is a verb tense describing events that already happened.

What are some examples of simple past tense?

Can simple past tense express future action?

The simple past tense can only express actions in the past. However, you can show current ongoing actions that started in the past with the present perfect continuous tense (e.g., "I have been working there for twenty years").

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Simple Past Tense: How to Use It, With Examples

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The simple past is a verb tense that is used to talk about things that happened or existed before now. Imagine someone asks you...

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Clear explanations about how to use the present simple tense (or simple present) in English

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Before talking about tense, which relates the meaning of the verb to our concept of time, we must first give some attention to the different kinds of meaning a verb may have. Basically, a verb may describe an activity (I'm listening to jazz.), an event (I have downloaded a song.) or a state (I am a teacher .)

Verbs that refer to activities and events can be considered dynamic and those referring to a state stative. This is a very important distinction to bear in mind, because dynamic verbs can be used in progressive form (-ing) whereas stative verbs normally disallow the progressive and occur only in the simple form.

Since sometimes the same verb can change from one category to another (e.g. smell, taste, have, etc) it would be more accurate to talk of "action uses of verbs" and "state uses of verbs", but it is convenient to keep to the simpler terms "action verbs" and "state verbs".

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Before talking about tense, which relates the meaning of the verb to our concept of time, we must first give some attention to the different kinds of meaning a verb may have. Basically, a verb may describe an activity (I'm listening to jazz.), an event (I have downloaded a song.)

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Past Continuous Tense

GRAMMAR

The past continuous tense, also known as the past progressive tense, refers to a continuing action or state that was happening at some point in the past. The past continuous tense is formed by combining the past tense of to be (i.e., was/were) with the verb’s present participle (-ing word).

There are many situations in which this verb tense might be used in a sentence. For example, it is often used to describe conditions that existed in the past.

The sun was shining every day that summer.

As I spoke, the children were laughing at my cleverness.

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GET GRAMMARLYIt can also be used to describe something that was happening continuously in the past when another action interrupted it.

The audience was applauding until he fell off the stage.

I was making dinner when she arrived.

The past continuous can shed light on what was happening at a precise time in the past.

At 6 o’clock, I was eating dinner..

It can also refer to a habitual action in the past.

She was talking constantly in class in those days.

One final caution: Though the irregularities are few, not every verb is suited to describing a continuous action. Certain verbs can’t be used in the past continuous tense. One common example is the verb to arrive.

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Use the past continuous to indicate that a longer action in the past was interrupted. 

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Use the past continuous to indicate that a longer action in the past was interrupted. 

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he past perfect continuous tense (also known as the past perfect progressive tense) shows that an action that started in the past continued up until another time in the past. The past perfect continuous tense is constructed using had been + the verb's present participle (root + -ing).

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When you use the past continuous with two actions in the same sentence, it expresses the idea that both actions were happening at the same time. The actions are parallel.

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When you use the past continuous with two actions in the same sentence, it expresses the idea that both actions were happening at the same time. The actions are parallel.

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It is important to remember that Non-continuous verbs cannot be used in any continuous tenses. Also, certain non-continuous meanings for mixed verbs cannot be used in continuous tenses. Instead of using past continuous with these verbs, you must use simple past.                Examples:Jane was being at my house when you arrived. Not Correct                                             Jane was at my house when you arrived. Correct   

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It is important to remember that Non-continuous verbs cannot be used in any continuous tenses. Also, certain non-continuous meanings for mixed verbs cannot be used in continuous tenses. Instead of using past continuous with these verbs, you must use simple past.                Examples:Jane was being at my house when you arrived. Not Correct                                             Jane was at my house when you arrived. Correct   

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All the verbs could be in past continuous?

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All the verbs could be in past continuous?

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The Simple Past is used for actions that started and finished at a specific time in the past. 

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The Simple Past is used for actions that started and finished at a specific time in the past. 