Class 1

Narrative Tenses

Past Continuous
and
Past Simple

Miss R. Flores June, 2022

 Review: The Past Simple
Use the past simple to talk about an event which happened at some
point in time in the past.
Is used for completed or repeated Actions in the past.

1. Tom flew to Chicago last week.

2. Peter visited his friends in Florida two months ago.

Study: List of Regular and Irregular Verbs.

 The PAST CONTINUOUS

It is formed with “was” or “were” and the verb-ing.

(verb+ing)
Past Continuous
Past Continuous: Wh- Questions

was

were

was

were
 The Past Continuous
Use past continuous to talk about actions or events that were in progress
at some time in the past.

Past
Continuous
 The Past Continuous
Use the Past Continuous for “actions” that were in progress at
every moment during a period of time.

9:00 am 10:30 am

Susan was swimming. (a long action)

1. Past Continuous and Past Simple
La Acción “continua” es interrumpida por una Accion “corta”.

Background Action = escena anterior.

Longer Shorter
Action Action
2. Past Continuous and Past Simple
in Storytelling (scene-setting)
2. Past Continuous in Storytelling (set a scene)
In “stories” to “set the scene”, it means to
describe the background of a story.
(el contexto, entorno o antecedentes de la historia).

Background of the Story:

“James Bond was driving through town.

It was raining. The wind was blowing
hard. Nobody was walking in the streets.
Suddenly, he saw the killer in a
telephone box …”
 Past Simple Vs. Past Continuous
Use the Past Continuous for an ongoing action in the past
(period of time) and use the Simple Past for an event that
interrupts the action.

Past Continuous Past Simple

1.
2.
3.
2. Past Continuous and Past Simple
Examples
 3.Past Continuous: Precise moment
The past continuous is also used to express what was happening
at a precise moment in the past.

▪ I was attending a lecture at 2.30 yesterday afternoon.

▪ Alice was reading a book at six yesterday evening.
 When and While/as
The past continuous is usually used to refer to events
happening at the same time and that something
important happened in the past.

• He was doing his homework when his mother arrived.

• Kate was studying while Dave was cooking dinner.
When and While/as

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLj-Dbz-CWk
When and While/as
 While/as

I was listening to music while I was eating dinner.

 While/as

I got a flat tire while I was driving.

 When

I was driving when I got a flat tire.

 Conversation
Conversation

Tailgate = conducir pegado al

vehiculo de delante.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln8vtgvacgo 1:02:00
Video: Write correct form of verbs
https://en.islcollective.com/video-lessons/simple-past-vs-past-continuous
 Exercise
Complete the paragraph with the Past Continuous and
the Simple Past tense.
 Exercise
Complete each sentence or question about driving.
Use the Past Continuous and the Simple Past tense.
Exercise
 Narrative Tenses
PAST SIMPLE, PAST CONTINUOUS & PAST PERFECT
 Any question?
missrosieflores@gmail.com