Past Tense

(Past Simple Tense, Past Continuous/progressive Tense,

Past Perfect Tense, Past Perfect Continuous Tense)

Instructor Waseem Ali Soomro

SUM Academy Larkana.
Past Simple Tense
Why is it used?

 The past simple tense (also called the simple past tense, or simply
the past simple) is used to express completed actions.

 Finished action. (once in the past)

 Finished action. (Moment)
 Past routine (daily dairy)
 Past Habit
Finished action. (once in the past)
(last, previous, ago, day/week/month/year)

Example.
 I went to Karachi last month.
 They joined the academy a month ago.
 We saw Sana in town a few days ago.
 The police stopped me on my way home last night.
 They invited us to their party.
Finished action. (Moment)

Example.
 Ali first met Sara on a wedding ceremony.
 I bought this book from Urdu bazar Karachi.
 He returned my book after two books.
 Neha passed her exam because she studied very hard.
Past Routine ( Dairy)

Example.
 I got up early in the morning. Dressed my self and took my
son to the school first time, there I met some teachers and
some of my students…… so on.
Past Habits
 (Used to
 Always, Never, Sometimes, Seldom, daily, ever, Randomly, often,
rarely)

 Example:
 She used to ask irrelevant questions.
 She asked irrelevant questions frequently.
Syntax/Structure:

Affirmative:
 Subject + Main Verb (2nd form) + object/adverb.

 Example:
 I went to Karachi.
 They played cricket.
Syntax/Structure:
Interrogative:
 Did + Subject + Main Verb (1st form) + object/adverb + ?

 Wh-word + did + Subject + Main Verb (1st form) + ?

 Who + Main Verb (2nd form) + object/adverb + ?

 Example:
 Did I go to Karachi?
 How did they play cricket?
 Who went to Karachi?
Syntax/Structure:
Negative:
 Subject + did + not + Main Verb (1st form) + object/adverb.

 Subject + never + Main Verb (2nd form) + object/adverb.

 Example:
 I did not go to Karachi.
 They never played cricket.
Syntax/Structure:
Affirmative:
• Subject + had + object/adjective.
• He had a car.

Interrogative:
• Did + Subject (S) + have + object/Adjective + ?
• Did he have a car?

Negative:
• Subject (S) + did + not + have + object/Adjective.
• He did not have a car.
Past Continuous Tense
The Past Continuous is used to denote an action going on at
some time in the past. The time of the action may or may not be
indicated.
The Past Continuous or Past progressive is used:

 Action going on at some time in the past

 Annoying habits

 Action going on before another started (Overlapping)

Action going on at some time in the past:

The Past Continuous is used to denote an action going on

at some time in the past.

Example:
It was raining this morning.
We were eating at KFC yesterday.
You were working yesterday.
she was studying last night.
Annoying habits:
 (always)

 Example:
 He was always disturbing the whole class.
 They were always laughing at others.
Overlapping
 You can say that something happened (past simple) in the middle of
something else (past continuous):
 (As, When, While, before )

 Example:
 Sara phoned while we were having dinner.
 It was raining when I got up.
 The neighbors were shouting so loudly last night that they kept us all a
wake until midnight.
 I hurt my back while I was working in the garden
 I saw them when they were doing shopping.
 I was having lunch when you called me.
Conditionals
 We use the second conditional to speak about a hypothetical situation or outcome
resulting from the condition. Unlike the first conditional, we generally use the
second conditional to talk about things that cannot or are less likely to happen.

 To create the second conditional, we use the past simple tense after the if clause,
followed by would, could or might + the bare infinitive for the result of the
condition

 For example:
 If you had a phone, you could call me every day.
 If he were ill, he could not attend the meeting.
 If I were older, I might stay up all night long.
Syntax:
 Affirmative:
 Subject + helping verb + Verb (4th form) + object/adverb.
 They were playing tennis.

 Interrogative:
 Helping verb + Subject + Verb (4th form) + object/adverb + ?
 Wh-word + Helping verb + Subject + Verb (4th form) + ?
 Were they playing tennis?
 Where were they playing tennis?

 Negative:
 Subject + helping verb + not + Main Verb (4th form) + object/adverb.
 They were not playing tennis.
Past Perfect Tense
Why is it used?

 An action or event before another action or event.

 An action or event before a specific point in time.

 The past perfect tense expresses the idea that something
occurred before Another action in the past. It can also show that
something happened before a specific time in the past.

 For Example:

 When she arrived at the airport, she realized she dropped her
passport.

 When she arrived at the airport, she realized she had dropped her
passport.
 She arrived at the airport in a moment in the past, but the moment
she dropped her passport happened before this past moment.
Because the first sentence only.

 Uses the past simple tense, it sounds as if both moments happened

at the same time in the past, and the sentence becomes confusing.

 By using the past perfect tense in the second sentence, we are able
to distinguish that one event happened earlier than the other.
Syntax/Structure:
Affirmative:
 Subject + had + Main Verb (3rdform) + object/adverb.

Interrogative:
 H.v + Subject + Main Verb (3rdform) + object/adverb + ?
 Wh-word +h.v + Subject + Main Verb (3rdform) + object/adverb + ?

Negative:
 Subject + h.v + not /never + Main Verb (3rdform) + object/adverb.

 Because we use the past perfect to highlight two separate points in the past, we
often use the conjunctions
 before, after, when, because, until, or by the time
 to specify the order in which they occurred in time
An action or event before another action or
event
 If we are highlighting that the action or event in the past perfect tense came
 before another action or event, this second verb is often (but not always) in the
 past simple tense.

 For example:
 When I turned on the TV, the film had ended.
 I had dreamed of living in Ireland even before I visited the country.
 She was sad when she left the house she had lived in for so many years.
 Unfortunately, he had not taken his keys before he left the house.
An action or event before a specific point in
time
 If we are talking about a past perfect action that came before a certain point in
when we are talking about.

 For example:
 Until that afternoon, she had never considered living abroad.
 The construction had gone quite smoothly before the earthquake.”
 I had expected to be married by this morning.”
 I hadn’t used a hammer before working in construction.”
Past Perfect Continuous Tense
Why is it used?

 The past perfect continuous tense (also called the past perfect
progressive tense) is used to describe,

 Actions interrupted in the past

 Past durations of time
 Cause of past results
Actions interrupted in the past
 An action that was in progress in the past before another past action or event
occurred. When the second action happens, it interrupts and marks the completion
of the first one.
 For example:

 I had been teaching English in Turkey when the earthquake hit.

 They had been living in Larkana before she got the job in Karachi.
 She had been traveling around Canada when she heard about her mother’s
illness.”
Past durations of time

 We often describe the duration of the continuous past action. The

meaning is very similar to the present perfect continuous tense in this
way.

 However, whereas the present perfect continuous describes an action

that was happening up until the present moment, the past perfect
continuous highlights an action that was finished when another action
or event in the past occurred sentences:
 For example:

 Sara has been waiting for over an hour for him to arrive.
 (present perfect continuous tense)
 Sara had been waiting for over an hour for him to arrive
 (past perfect continuous tense)

 The meaning of both sentences is quite similar. However, in the first sentence,
she began waiting an hour ago in the past, and is still waiting; in the second
sentence, she began waiting an hour ago in the past, but the waiting was
completed, either when he arrived or when she decided to stop waiting.
Cause of past results

 We can also use the past perfect continuous to indicate that the continuous action that
finished in the past was the cause of a condition, situation, or event in the past. Used
in this way, the past continuous action was not interrupted by a second action or
event.

 For example:
 She was very sweaty because she had been running for nearly an hour.
 I didn’t have any energy to play with the kids because I had been working so hard
all the week.”
Past continuous vs. Past perfect continuous
 We can use the past continuous tense in a similar way to show causation, but
the difference is that the past continuous describes an action that finished just
now or very recently, while the past perfect continuous describes an action that
may have finished further in the past.

 For example:
 My eyes were tired because I was working on the computer.
 (past continuous) The action finished just now or very recently.

 My eyes were tired because I had been working on the computer.

 (past perfect continuous) The action likely finished at a point further in the
past.