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1. Past Simple

The first past tense you’ll often learn in your English classes is the past simple.

Form

For regular verbs we add -ed to the infinitive form of the verb. E.g.

Irregular verbs however, take a different form. There are hundreds of irregular verbs and you just have to learn them off by heart! Here are some of the most common:

Use

The main use of the past simple is for finished actions in the past. For example:

I was born in San Francisco.

I cleaned my room.

I forgot my key.

We can use it with a finished time phrase like in the sentences below:

Yesterday I went to the supermarket.

Last night we watched the football.

The phone rang five minutes ago.

Other common time expressions you can use are:

last month, last week, last summer, in 1997, when I was a child, a long time ago, on Monday, in February etc.

We also use the past simple for the main action when telling a story.

E.g. I woke up on my wedding day, I jumped out of bed and immediately called my brother. He didn’t pick up and so I began to worry.

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+ I was swimming in the sea when I saw a shark.

+ Henry was sitting at home when the phone rang.

+ She was playing golf when it began to rain.

When two continuous actions are happening at the same time we use the time expression while.

+ I was talking to Sarah while she was driving.

+ We were playing while dad was cooking dinner.

We can also use it to show a continuous action happening at a specific time in the past.

+ Yesterday morning I was practising the piano.

+ At 6 o’clock I was eating dinner.

+ What were you doing at 8pm last night?

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Past Perfect Continuous Tense Video Link

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Past Perfect Continuous Tense Video Link

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Past Perfect Continuous in English - Grammar lesson

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We use it when one action happens before another past action. For example:

A. The film had started when we arrived. (the film started before we arrived)

B. The film started when we arrived (we arrived at the same time the film started)

We use time expressions such as before, by the time and when.

Be careful lots of students overuse the past perfect! Remember you only use it for actions that happened before the main action.

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The past perfect continuous refers to a duration of an event taking place before a certain time in the past.Form of the past perfect continuous:

hadbeenverb +ing
AffirmativeNegativeInterrogative
I had been working. | I had not been working. | Had I been working?
You had been working. | You had not been working. | Had you been working?

Examples:

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

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

You had not been waiting there for more than two hours when she finally arrive.

Use of the past perfect continuous:

1. We use the past perfect continuous to show that something started in the past and continued up until another action stopped it.

Example:

We had been playing soccer when the accident occurred

2. We use the past perfect continuous to show that something started in the past and continued up until another time in the past. In this case we use expressions of duration such as:

for an hour

for three years

Example:

I had been living in that small town for three years before I moved to New York.

3. We use the Past Perfect Continuous before another action in the past to show cause and effect.

Example:

I was so tired. I had been revising my lessons for hours.