UNIVERSIDAD DISTRITAL FRANCISCO JOSÉ DE CALDAS

PROGRAMA DE SEGUNDA LENGUA-FACULTADES

PROFESOR: ANDRÉS PARRA

Past simple and past continuous tenses

Reading: Read and highlight in yellow color past simple examples, and highlight in green color
past continuous examples
Last night Mr. and Mrs. Rojas stayed home while outside it was raining so they didn’t want
to go out in the bad weather. Mrs. Rojas made some popcorn while Mr. Rojas was preparing some
ice tea. At 8:00, Mr. and Mrs. Rojas went into the living room to watch a movie. They sat on the
sofa and began the movie and ate and drank. At 8:15, Mr. and Mrs. Rojas weren’t enjoying the
movie because they saw it last year so they didn’t want to watch it again.

“Now what?” asked Mr. Rojas. “Let’s play cards and turn on the radio!” answered Mrs. Rojas. So,
Mr. and Mrs. Rojas started to play cards at the same time they were listening to music. They were
playing for about 10 minutes when Mr. Rojas looked out the window. The rain changed to snow
and the trees were covered in beautiful white snowflakes. “I’m happy we stayed home tonight. It
looks beautiful outside but this weather is very dangerous to drive.” said Mr. Rojas. “You’re right,”
said Mrs. Rojas, “but I’m bored. Let’s dance.”

Mr. Rojas was surprised. “Dance? But I really don’t ….”

“Oh, come on!” Mrs. Rojas insisted. She put on a romantic CD and they both started to dance.
They were dancing for about 1 minute when suddenly the music stopped and the lights went out.
Mrs. Rojas laughed. “We aren’t having luck tonight, are we?” she said. Mr. Rojas said, “Of course
we’re always lucky! We are together!” He kissed her and continued dancing with her, in the dark
and without music.

Read again and answer the next questions:

1. Why did Mr. and Mrs. Rojas stay home last night?
2. What did Mr. and Mrs. Rojas make?
3. What were Mr. and Mrs. Rojas doing when it started to snow?
4. Why was Mr. Rojas happy they stayed home?
5. What were Mr. and Mrs. Rojas doing when the lights went out?
6. How is the past simple formed?
7. How is the past continuous formed?

Material creado/diseñado/adaptado de fuentes propias o de terceros con fines académicos por Lic. Andrés Parra. 2020
Material created/designed/adapted from own- or third-party resources for academic purposes by English teacher Andrés Parra 2020
 Grammar: Past simple (regular and irregular verbs)
We use the PAST SIMPLE to describe something (action, state-situation, etc.) that started in the past
and was completed or finished in the same past.

Pronoun POSITIVE + Negative - Interrogative?

WE {verb past form {auxiliary did not (didn’t) + {auxiliary did + pronoun+ verb
regular ed-irregular) verb inf. + complement} inf. + complement +?}
YOU + complement}

THEY Didn’t work in the bank Did I-we-you-they work in the

worked very hard. bank?
HE Didn’t study very hard
studied very hard. Did I-we-you-they study very
SHE Didn’t go to the park.
went to the park. hard?
IT
Did I-we-you-they go to the park?

Regular verbs: are those which follow specific rules according to their infinitive (present) form
when we turn them into the past simple form:
1. Check the next rules with the purpose to match and change the regular verbs from their
infinitive (present) form to their past form:

Produce – work – study - plan

1. Add -ed to most regular verbs. (most verbs that end/finish in consonant) Example: worked

2. Add -d to verbs that end/finish in the letter -e. Example:

3. *When the verbs end/ finish in -y preceded by a consonant, remove -y and -ied. Example:

4. When the verbs end/finish in just one vowel + one consonant, we usually double the

consonant and add -ed. Example:

*when the verbs end/finish in -y but is preceded by a vowel we do not remove -y only add -ed.
Example: play = played.
 UNIVERSIDAD DISTRITAL FRANCISCO JOSÉ DE CALDAS
PROGRAMA DE SEGUNDA LENGUA-FACULTADES
PROFESOR: ANDRÉS PARRA

2. Classify the next verbs: according to the rules: work, produce, marry, sit, visit,
change, plan, study, stop, look, live, start.
+ -ed + -d Remove -y and + -ied Double consonant

Examples
1. My brother ________ a new job yesterday. (not start)
2. _____the Hoover factory _______ vacuum cleaners? (produce)
3. My father _______ my mother in 1980. (marry)
4. My father _______ work at the age of sixty. (stop)
5. The children _______ with the computer (not play)
6. _____ you_____ in Canada? (live)

Irregular verbs: are those which don’t follow specific rules, they have their own form when we turn
them from infinitive into the past simple form:
infinitive Past form

Leave left
Fly flew
Spend spent
Go went
Take took
Buy Bought
Meet Met
See saw
Eat ate

Material creado/diseñado/adaptado de fuentes propias o de terceros con fines académicos por Lic. Andrés Parra. 2020
Material created/designed/adapted from own- or third-party resources for academic purposes by English teacher Andrés Parra 2020
Practice irregular verbs: complete the next text with the previous examples in bold.
Last weekend I (1) _____ to Lucerne, in Switzerland for a short break. It was fantastic! WE (2)
_____there from Heathrow Airport on Friday morning. The town is really pretty. On Sunday we (3)
_____ a bus trip around the lovely lake and we (4) _____some very interesting landscapes. We
(5) _____some really friendly people and we (6) _____ some delicious food, we (7)
(negative)______a lot of money when we (8) ____________ some souvenirs because it is a very
expensive town. We (9) _____ on Sunday, but I really want to go back there one day.

Grammar: past continuous.

Rule: we use the past continuous to talk about:
● Ongoing actions/activities at a certain time in the past.
● Two or more actions/activities taking place at the same time in the past (using while
● Actions/activities in the past interrupted by another actions (using when)

Structure: subject (I/he/she/it/we/you/they) + verb to be past form+ main verb-ing form (gerund)

Positive + Negative - Interrogative?

I was dancing. I wasn’t (was not) dancing Was I dancing?

He/She/It was cooking. He/She/It wasn’t (was not) cooking Was he/She/It cooking?

We/you/they weren’t (were not)

We/you/they were playing Were we/you/they playing?
playing
I was I wasn’t (was not)
Short yes He/she/it was He/she/it wasn’t (was not)
no
answers
We/you/they were We/you/they weren’t (were not)

Gerunds ( -Ing ) verbs modification rules:

Modifications rules Examples

Cook =
● Most verbs + -ing form Watch =
Play =
Have =
● Verbs finished -e = take away-e and add -ing form Move=
Dace =
Sit =
● Verb finished one vowel + consonant = double the
Clap=
consonant and add ing form Run =
 UNIVERSIDAD DISTRITAL FRANCISCO JOSÉ DE CALDAS
PROGRAMA DE SEGUNDA LENGUA-FACULTADES
PROFESOR: ANDRÉS PARRA

Examples:
a) He _____(play) _____the guitar while she _____ (sing) _____
b) _____they (watch) _____ a good movie?
c) She _____ (not dance) _____ at the party.
d) we _____ (practice) _____ when the storm began.
e) You _____ (not listen) _____to the speaker last class.
f) What _____ you (do) _____ last week?
g) _____it (sleep) _____at home last night?

The most common time expressions used for the past simple are:

yesterday, a week (month, year) ago, last (month, year, weekend,

Monday) night, the day before yesterday, two days (months, years)
ago. The time expression appears either at the beginning or at the
end of the sentence – never in the middle of the sentence.

Past simple and past continuous grammar practice

A. Complete the sentences with the correct past simple or past continuous form of the verbs in
brackets:
1 She_____________ (surf) when the shark________ (attack) her.

2 He___________ (dance) at a party when he____ (meet) his girlfriend.

3 I________________ (have) a picnic when I______ (see) my sister.

4 When they______(see) the shark they____________(swim) in the sea.

5 Susan________ (arrive) while I__________________ (have) dinner.

6 He______________ (play) football, when he _______ (break) his leg.

7 I ______________(wait) for my friend when the bus_______ (arrive).

8 When I _________ (get back) my mum_____________ (cook) dinner.

Material creado/diseñado/adaptado de fuentes propias o de terceros con fines académicos por Lic. Andrés Parra. 2020
Material created/designed/adapted from own- or third-party resources for academic purposes by English teacher Andrés Parra 2020
 B. Follow the conversation and Choose the correct structure (past simple or past continuous).

● Dave: Hi, Jenny, what (1) did you do / were you did last weekend?

● Jenny: I (2) was going / went to a party.

● Dave: (3) Did you have/ were you having a good time?

● Jenny: Yes, I really (4) were enjoying / enjoyed it. I (5) met / was meeting this really nice guy,
his name’s Danny.
● Dave: really?

● Jenny: I (6) was talking / talked to my friend Paula, when Danny (7) asked / was asking me to
dance.
● Dave Where’s he from?

● Jenny: Liverpool, but he (8) said / was saying that he (9) was living/lived in London at the
moment.
● Dave: How (9) did he know / he was knowing Paula?

● Jenny: They (10) were going / went to a swimming club together.