HIGHER INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND DISTANCE EDUCATION

Faculty of Educational Sciences

Degree Course and Teaching of Portuguese

Theme: Past Simple versus Past Continuous

Zanete Alberto Jaquissone: 81230480

Nampula, May de 2023

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HIGHER INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND DISTANCE EDUCATION

Faculty of Educational Sciences

Degree Course and Teaching of Portuguese

Theme: Past Simple versus Past Continuous

Fieildwok to be submitted in the

coordination of the degree
course in portuguese teaching of
the UnISCED.

Tutor: Dr. Tomás Macande

Zanete Alberto Jaquissone: 81230480

Nampula, May de 2023

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Indices

Introduction---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4

Objective------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4

Specific objective--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4

Methodology--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4

Simple Past----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5

Past Perfect Simple------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5

The simple past tense is used to describe-----------------------------------------------------------6

Past simple irregular --------------------------------------------------------------------------------6

Past Perfect Continuous-------------------------------------------------------------------------------8

Conclusion---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10

Bibliography reference-------------------------------------------------------------------------------11

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Introduction

The present research work is concerned about past simple and past. This work was given in
English subject for evaluation in UNISCED University.

About the topics developed in this work are very interested for students because it gives
enough information about grammar rules in training English language.

These topics will help students or the readers to practice the following examples in order
to increase their knowledge and apply in the real life situation.

Objective

General objective – understand the articulation of vebs

Specific objective

 Demonstrate whith exemple the use of veb in the simple past and past continuous
tense
 Conjugate verbs

Methodology

Tho carry out this work, we resorted to the bibliographic research that consisted of
Reading manuals and consulting articles on the intenet

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Simple Past

[verb + ed] or irregular verbs

Completed action in the past

I wentto my English lesson yesterday

A series of completed actions in the past

I wentto my English lesson,then I had dinner with my new classmates,then I walked home.

Habits in the past or duration in the past

I learned English fortwo years.

I visited my friend in England every year when I was younger

I used to go swimming three times a week when I was a child.

Past Perfect Simple

[has / have + past participle]

[has / have + past participle] When we use the Present Perfect,the exact time is not
important. You CANNOT use the Present Perfect with specific time expressions such as:
yesterday, one year ago, last week, when I was a child, when I lived in Japan, atthat
moment, that day, one day, etc.

Use 1: Life experience (an unspecified time before now)

She has been to New York severaltimes.

Have you met my English teacher before?

To talk about past experience using the Present Perfect we can use unspecific expressions
such as: ever, never, once, twice, many times, several times, before, so far, already,
yet.

Use 2: Recent news or events with a link to the presente

I have just eaten a big English breakfast and now I am so full.

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She has recently started her English lessons and she loves them!

Use 3: A past action which continues in the presente

I haven’t seen you for ages, let’s meet up for a coffee at the weekend.

They have been chatting in English all night!

The simple past tense is used to describe

1. an action that happened in the past

2. a truth about a time in the past

Add “ed” or “ied” to regular verb endings in simple past tense when used to describe any
subject (I, you, we, they, he, she, it).

Subject [verb + “ed” or “ied”]

The verb “to be” has an irregular conjugation:

I / he / she / it [was]

you / we / they [were]

Example: He walked to school yesterday.

Example: She was happy.

Past simple irregular

Positive Negative
I I
You You
He He
She ate Dinner She Dont’t eat Dinner
It It
We We
they they

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Positive Yes No
I I I
You You You
He He He
She eat Dinner She Did She Didn’t
did It It It
We We We
they they they

[had + past participle]

Use 1: An action before something in the past

The Past Perfectis used to talk about something that happened before another action or
before a specific time in the past.

She had studied English before she moved toNYC.

She had never been to a show in Broadway before last night.

Tom knew Sidney like the back of his hand because he had visited the city on several
occasions.

She only understood the movie because she had read the book.

We use the past perfect (had left) because the action happened before another action in the
past (Mary rang the doorbell.)

Use 2: A continuous action before something in the past

The Past Perfect can express something started in the past and continued up until another
action in the past.

He had had his dictionary fortwenty years before it finally fell apart.

By the time Alex finished his studies, he had been in London for over eight years.

They were quite sad about selling the house because they had lived in itfor more than
thirty years

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examples ofthe past perfect:

When Marie opened the washing machine she realized that she had washed the cat.

I got a letterfrom John last week. We had been at schooltogether years ago but we had lost
touch with each other

Comparaction the two sentences:

James had cooked breakfast when we got up.

James cooked breakfast when we got up.

In the first sentence, the past perfecttells us that James cooked breakfast before we got up.
In the second sentence, first we got up and then James cooked breakfast.

Past Perfect Continuous

Positive Negative
I Was I Wasn’t
You Were You Weren’t
He Was He Wasn’t
She Was palying She Wasn’t palying Dinner
It Was It Wasn’t
We Were We Weren’t
they were they Weren’t

Positive Yes No
Was I I Was I Wasn’t
Were You You Were You Weren’t
Was He He Was He Wasn’t
Was She palying She Was She Wasn’t
Was It It Was It Wasn’t
Were We We Were We Weren’t
were they they Were they Weren’t

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[had + been + verb+ING]

USE 1: Acontinuous action before something in the past

The Past Perfect Continuous denotes something started that in the past and continued up
until anothertime in the past. Note that although this is related to the Present Perfect
Continuous, the action does not continue until now, but stops before another action in the
past.

They had been chatting for over an hour before Tessa arrived.

She had been working at that company forthree years when it went out of business.

How long had you been waiting to get on the bus?

Mike wanted to go for a run because he had been sitting at his desk all day.

USE 2: Cause and consequences of a past action

Using the Past Perfect Continuous before another action in the past is a good way to show
cause and effect.

Emily realized that she had been working too hard so she decided to have a break.

Jack was tired because he had been doing his homework for hours!

By the time Jane arrived they had been waiting for 3 hours and were very angry.

Kathryn passed the test with flying colours because she had been working nonstop!

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Conclusion

At the end of this research work, it's sure that the topics developed in this work where very
important for the students or readers.

In it we knew that the past continuous tense is used to speak about things that are
happening at the last moment of speaking or are going to take place in a near future. This
can be used now, longer action in progress, near future and repetition and irritation.

The work has the crucial topics for academic students and it is sure that they can use all
adjectives rules regarded in it.

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Bibliography reference

https://google.weblight.com/i?u=https://learnenglish.british council.org/English
grammar-reference &hl=pt-PT.

https://googleweblight.com/i?u=https://www.learn grammar.net/english-
grammar/past simple tense &hl=pt-PT.

https://googleweblight.com/i?u=hts://www.English page.com/verb page/ past

continuous. Html/&hl=pt-PT

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