Past Tenses

Simple Past & Past Continuous

Learning Objectives:

a)
b)

Secondary One Normal Academic

1 period
To choose between past continuous
and simple past tense.
To form past continuous tense
correctly.
Read about the Redhill Murder
Mystery. Click
to go to the next
page. Click on
to complete the
worksheets provided.

Redhill Murder Mystery

Riggenbach and Samuda.

Who is the murderer?

Saddlier,

Last night, Mr Lim died at

his home in Redhill. Detective
Kang was the first person to
arrive at the scene after Mr
Lim died.
Mr Lims wife, Brenda, told
Detective Kang, It was an
accident. My husband took a
shower at about 10 pm. After
his shower, he slipped on a
piece of soap and fell down.

Simple Past & Past Continuous Tense

You use the Simple Past for an action that

started and finished in the past.

Eg. Detective Kang arrived at 10.30 pm.

Mrs Lim drank several cups of black coffee.

You use the Past Continuous for an action that

was in progress at a specific time in the past.

Eg. Detective Kang was eating dinner at 10 pm.

Mr Lim was brushing his teeth at 10 pm.

Simple Past Tense

Last night, Mr Lim died at his home in Redhill.
Detective Kang was the first person to arrive at
the scene after Mr Lim died.
Mr Lims wife, Brenda, told Detective Kang,
It was an accident. My husband took a shower
at about 10 pm. After his shower, he slipped on
a piece of soap and fell down.

Past Continuous Tense

You use the Past Continuous with the Simple

Past to show that one action began first and
was still in progress when the second action
happened.

Eg.Detective Kang was reading a newspaper when he heard

about the murder.

You use the Past Continuous with the Past

Continuous to show 2 actions in progress at the
same time.

Eg. Mrs Lim was talking on the phone while her husband was
taking a shower.
Redhill Mys tery
Wors ks heet B

Redhill Mystery Worksheet A

Try to solve the mystery and make meaningful statements
about Mr Lims death by matching information from column A
with that in column B.

Mrs Lim called the police

While she was waiting for
the police to arrive
As soon as Detective Kang
heard about the murder
When Detective Kang
asked to see the body.
While Detective Kang was
searching the bathroom for
clues

he became suspicious of
Mrs Lims story.
Mrs Lim took him to the
scene of the crime.
as soon as her husband
died.
she drank a cup of freshlybrewed coffee.
he rushed to Mr Lims
house.

Redhill Mystery Worksheet A

This was what happened on the fateful day Mr Lim died.
Click on the question mark to solve the mystery.

Mrs Lim called the police

While she was waiting for
the police to arrive
As soon as Detective Kang
heard about the murder
When Detective Kang
asked to see the body.
While Detective Kang was
searching the bathroom for
clues

he became suspicious of
Mrs Lims story.
Mrs Lim took him to the
scene of the crime.
as soon as her husband
died.
she drank a cup of freshlybrewed coffee.
he rushed to Mr Lims
house.

Redhill Murder Mystery

Mrs Lim killed her
husband. She entered the
bathroom while her
husband was brushing his
teeth, and she hit him over
the head with the
bathroom scale. Then she
turned on the shower and
put soap on the floor. How
did Detective Kang know
this?

Redhill Mys tery

Works heet B Ans wers

Acknowledgements:

Collaborative effort by Koh Shio Theng and Rukiah

Othman, 8th October 2002.

Dr Myint Swe Khine, for his kind guidance.

The Redhill Murder Mystery is adapted from

Grammar Dimensions Platinum Edition 2 by
Michelle Sadlier, Heidi Riggenbach and Virginia
Samuda, Thomson Learning 2000.