Scribd
Upload
591 views1 page

Time Expressions

The document discusses various time expressions used in English to talk about the past. It outlines four main types: 1) Using "ago" with a time reference like "five minutes ago" or "six months ago" to indicate how far in the past something happened. 2) Using "last" with a time reference like "last night" or "last month" to talk about the most recent past time period. 3) Using "yesterday" or "yesterday morning/afternoon/evening" to refer to the day before today. 4) Using "before" in past or past perfect tense to talk about an action that occurred prior to something else, like "before the plane

Uploaded by

NataliaEspejel
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
591 views1 page

Time Expressions

The document discusses various time expressions used in English to talk about the past. It outlines four main types: 1) Using "ago" with a time reference like "five minutes ago" or "six months ago" to indicate how far in the past something happened. 2) Using "last" with a time reference like "last night" or "last month" to talk about the most recent past time period. 3) Using "yesterday" or "yesterday morning/afternoon/evening" to refer to the day before today. 4) Using "before" in past or past perfect tense to talk about an action that occurred prior to something else, like "before the plane

Uploaded by

NataliaEspejel
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Time Expressions

In English we use simple past to talk about when thing happened. There are a number of
words and phrases that are often used to show when an action or situation happened in the
past. We call them “time adverbials”or “time expressions”.

1. Ago: We use time reference + ago to show how far back in the past something
happened “five minutes, an hour, three days, six months , ten years, many years, a
long time, etc…”.
The movie ended five minutes ago.
My son was born six months ago.
I took that photo one year ago.
Three months ago I left Paris.
2. Last: We use last + time reference to mean the most recent or nearest to the
present day time “night, monday, week, month, January, Christmas, summer, year”.
I saw a movie on TV last night.
My parents traveled to Japan last month.
Michael arrived to Mexico last January
Last Christmas I got a lot of presents.
*We say last night, last month, last year, NOT use “the” before the expression*
3. Yesterday: We use Yesterday or yesterday + morning/ afternoon/ evening to talk
about the day before today.
Charles wore a suit to work yesterday.
We got up late yesterday morning.
She left the hospital yesterday afternoon.
Yesterday evening Joel called me.
*We can use “the day before yesterday” to talk about two days ago. We never use
“yesterday night” ; the correct expression is “the day before”.
4. Before: we use Before in past or past perfect to talk about an action that happened
before something else
We arrived just before the plane's door closed.
I was 19 years old the day before yesterday.
We celebrated my birthday before celebrate christmas

You might also like