Simple Past Tense Past Continuous Tense Past Perfect Tense

By: WAN NUR AFIFAH WAN JUSOH 901110-11-5174 SEM 1 / 2010 PISMP KS

Past Continuous Tense

Express an activity that was in progress, was happening at point of time in the past or at the time of another action

OH MY FRIENDS... REMEMBER THIS!

Construction: was/were + present participle Passive: was/were + being + present participle

Past continuous is typically used for an activity that was ongoing at a certain point in the past What were you doing when the alarm bell rang?. I was serving dinner when Mum phoned. This time last week I was basking in the sun on a Cretan Beach. Where was I on 10 November? Oh yes, I was paying a visit to Taiwan.

An activity that was interrupted by a certain happening in the simple past is in the past continuous

I was doing a tricky job on my computer when a power cut destroyed all my data. We were just approaching the summit when there was a blinding flash of lighting. I was wondering how to deal with the problem when an idea suck me.

The past continuous is used to indicate the situation that was ongoing when a certain single action took place

I was only joking when I said that. He noticed that she was smiling to herself. I realized he was lying. I glanced at Susan, who was trying not to laugh. The telephone rang just as the meal was being served.

In some cases only the ongoing situation is mentioned

Hey! I was only teasing! You werent listening, were you? A dog was barking somewhere along the street.
Verb that represent gradual change in a past context are often in the past continuous

The situation was getting ridiculous. The children were growing fast.

Repeated activity in the past can be expressed by using forever or always with the past continuous; this is often an expression of exasperation:

Harry was forever breaking the law and being arrested on some charge or other. Mr. Right was always correcting peoples grammar, usually misguidedly. I was forever lending him money - which I never got back.

People often use the past continuous instead of the simple past to avoid sounding direct and definite.

Tom and I were talking (rather than talked) about you last night. I was discussing (rather than discussed) this problem earlier today with mum. John was mentioning (rather than mentioned) your name to me this morning.

LANGUAGE HELP

People often make tentative offers or requests using I was wondering

Example: I was wondering if you were free to have dinner with me this evening?.

EXERCISE 1; In the paragraph given, find the simple past and past continuous

EXERCISE

My alarm on my clock went off shrilly at seven oclock yesterday morning and I woke with a start. I bought that alarm clock at Dubai airport twelve years ago it has accompanied me on many journeys and has always been reliable. Anyway, I leapt out of bed, had a shower, made myself a cup of coffee, ate a bowl of cereal, took the lift to the ground floor, rushed along to the underground station, and stopped to buy a news paper. The newsvendor, who was

EXERCISE

a woman, greeted me cheerfully as I handed her the money. Then I took the elevator down to platform down to platform 5 and caught a train for Fulham. Twenty minutes later I arrived t my place of work, Ambrosia Publishing. I worked for a marketing firm for four years; Ive worked for nearly a year now with Ambrosia. Previously I lived on the outskirts of town, and had a long way to travel to work, but Ive moved to more convenient flat in the centre of town.

EXERCISE

By eight-thirty I was sitting at my computer. I was just checking a piece of text when my boss walked over to my desk. Then he realized that I was trying to work something out. sorry, he said. you were concentrating. My boss in my last job was forever doing things like that he was always interrupting my work and spoiling my concentration on some trivial pretext. Things were evidently turning in the same direction in my new job.

EXERCISE

I was wondering, he said, if I could ask you a favour. He then said he had some work that had

to be done urgently, and asked me if I could stay Late and help him, if I wasnt going anywhere or doing anything in particular. As it happened I was going to a film with my boyfriend, but that wasnt till eight, so I agreed to work till seven.

Here is how the past perfect is formed :

Subject We Affirmative : She Negative: We hadn't asked. had given. had had Past participle decided

Here is how the past perfect is formed :

had Interrogative: Had Interrogative negative: Hadn't you finished? they arrived? Subject Past participle

I ate a big breakfast.

I went to school.

Now

7:30am

8:00am

What happened first? What happened second? First : I ate breakfast. Second : I went to school. Answer : I had eaten a big breakfast before I went to school.

Usage 1. To show an action that took place at a in the past.

Examples By the time we reached the station, the bus had gone. By 1966 Oprah had decided on a career. They had shifted out before their house were sold.

Usage 2. To express or about a This is expressed with a that contain if.

Examples If I had known the truth, I would have apologized. If we had trained hard, we would have won the game. If we had gone to the dinner, we would have met our old friends.

Usage 3. To show that had taken place before took place.

Examples John had gone out when I arrived in the office. I had saved my document before the computer crashed. The maid had left before her employer returned.

Usage 4. 'Just' is used with the past perfect to that was only a short time now

Examples The train had just left when I arrived at the station. She had just left the room when the police arrived I had just put the washing out when it started to rain.

Usage

Examples

1. In some cases
with the after the time conjunctions and .

I had completed (or I completed) my project I was able to take a short rest. we had unpacked (or we unpacked) we explored the town. we had made (or we made) contact with the kidnappers, we alerted the police.

Rules to Remember!
1. The words already and just go between past participle. and the

Example: When Professor Lee retired, he at Beijing University for 32 years. 2. The negative of the is formed by putting not between and the past participle. The word still is often used with the negative form of the Example: By the end of the book, I still what the authors opinion was.

1. Grammar Express For Self-Study and Classroom Use Written by : Marjorie Fuchs & Margeret Bonner Company : Longman 2. Focus on Grammar Workbook 1 Written by : Anne Seaton & Betty Kirkpatrik Company : Learners Publishing