Faculdade cde cCiências cde cEducação

Licenciatura cem cEnsino cde cPortuguês

Past csimple cversus cpast ccontinuous

Carla cAlice cLaisse cNhamussua

Xai c– cXai, cMaio, c2024

 Faculdade cde cCiências cde cEducação
Licenciatura cem cEnsino cde cPortuguês

Past csimple cversus cpast ccontinuous

Fieldwork cto cbe csubmitted cto

cthe cCoordination cof cthe
cDegree cin cTeaching
cPortuguese cat cUnISCED.
Dr. c

Carla cAlice cLaisse cNhamussua

Xai c- cXai, cMaio, c2024

Index
CHAPTER cI: cINTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................4
1.Introduction.......................................................................................................................................4

1.1.Objectives:.....................................................................................................................................4

1.1.1.General cobjective.......................................................................................................................4

1.1.1.Specific cobjectives.....................................................................................................................4

1.2.Methodologies................................................................................................................................4

CHAPTER cII: cTHEORETICAL cFOUNDATION.........................................................................5

2.Past csimple cversus cpast ccontinuous............................................................................................5

2.1.Past cSimple...................................................................................................................................5

2.1.1.Table c1: cpast csimple cin cthe caffirmative, cnegative cand cinterrogative cform.................5

2.1.3.The cuses.....................................................................................................................................6

2.2.Past ccontinuous ctense..................................................................................................................6

2.2.1.The cuses.....................................................................................................................................6

2.2.2.Text….........................................................................................................................................7

2.2.3.Tabela c2: cpast csimple cin cthe caffirmative, cnegative cand cinterrogative cform...............7

2.2.4.Examples.....................................................................................................................................8

2.2.5.Combining cpast csimple cand cpast ccontinuous......................................................................8

2.2.5.1.Examples..................................................................................................................................8

Chapter cIII..........................................................................................................................................9

3.Final cConsiderations........................................................................................................................9

4.Bibliography....................................................................................................................................10
CHAPTER cI: cINTRODUCTION

1. Introduction
Most cverbs chave ca csingle cform cof cthe csimple cpast, cindependent cof cthe cperson cor
cnumber cof cthe csubject c(there cis cno caddition cof c-s cfor cthe cthird cperson csingular cas
cin cthe csimple cpresent). cThe csimple cpast cform calso chas csome cuses cin cwhich cit cdoes
cnot crefer cto ca cpast ctime. cHowever, cthe ccopula cverb cbe chas ctwo cpast ctense cforms:
cwas cfor cthe cfirst cand cthird cpersons csingular, cand cwere cin cother cinstances. cThe cform
cwere ccan calso cbe cused cin cplace cof cwas cin cconditional cclauses cand cthe clike; cfor
cinformation con cthis, csee cEnglish csubjunctive. cThis cis cthe conly ccase cin cmodern
cEnglish cwhere ca cdistinction cin cform cis cmade cbetween cinversion, cnegations cwith cnot,
cand cemphatic cforms cof cthe csimple cpast cuse cthe cauxiliary cdid.

1.1. Objectives:
1.1.1. General cobjective
To ccomprehend cthe cuse cof cthe csimple cpast cversus cthe cpast ccontinuous.
1.1.1. Specific cobjectives
To ccharacterize cthe cuse cof cthe csimple cpast cversus cthe cpast ccontinuous;
To cuse cthe cpast csimple cand cthe cpast ccontinuous cin cthe caffirmative, cnegative cand
cinterrogative cform;
To cgive cexamples cand cstructure cof cthe csimple cpast cversus cthe cpast ccontinuous.
1.2. Methodologies
In cmethodological cterms, cthe cmethod cof cbibliographic cprocedure cand cdescriptive
capproach cwas cused; cassisted cin cthe ctechnique cof cresearch con cInternet csites cof
carticles cand cworks, cwhich cconsisted cin cthe ccollection cand capproaches cof
cinformation.

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CHAPTER cII: cTHEORETICAL cFOUNDATION
2. Past csimple cversus cpast ccontinuous
2.1. PastSimple
The csimple cpast, cpast csimple cor cpast cindefinite, csometimes ccalled cthe cpreterite, cis cthe
cbasic cform cof cthe cpast ctense cin cModern cEnglish. cIt cis cused cprincipally cto cdescribe
cevents cin cthe cpast, calthough cit calso chas csome cother cuses. cRegular cEnglish cverbs
cform cthe csimple cpast cin c-ed; chowever, cthere care ca cfew chundred cirregular cverbs cwith
cdifferent cforms.(Aztar, c1989).

The cterm c"simple" cis cused cto cdistinguish cthe csyntactical cconstruction cwhose cbasic cform
cuses cthe cplain cpast ctense calone, cfrom cother cpast ctense cconstructions cwhich cuse
cauxiliaries cin ccombination cwith cparticiples, csuch cas cthe cpast cperfect cand cpast
cprogressive.(Aztar, c1989).

The cbolded cverbs: chad, cwas,wasn‟t, cwere, cdecided, cprepared, carrived, ckicked,
csquashed, copened, casked, clooked, cstarted, cand canswered care cin cthe cpast csimple
ctense.
Regular cverbs, cwe cadd c-edto cthe cverb: carrive c– carrived copen c– copened cask c– casked.
cThe cpast csimple ctense cof cverb cto cbe c(am/is/are) cis cwas/were. c(Hedge, c1995).

2.1.1. Table c1: cpast csimple cin cthe caffirmative, cnegative cand cinterrogative cform
Pronouns Affirmative form Negative form Interrogativeform
I was wasn‘t Was cI…?
You were weren‘t Were you …?
He / She / It was wasn‘t Was he / she / it…?
We /They were weren‘t Were we / they…?

Fonte: c(Hedge, c1995).

2.1.2. Examples
 I cwas cannoyed cbecause cthey cwere clate.
 Was cthe cweather cgood cwhen cyou cwere con choliday?
 They cweren’t cable cto ccome cbecause cthey cwere cso cbusy.
 I cwasn’t chungry, cso cI cdidn’t ceat canything.
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 Did cyou cgo cout clast cnight cor cwere cyou ctoo ctired?

Read the table:

Affirmative Negative Interrogative

I played football. I didn‟t play football. Did I play football?

You read the book yesterday. You didn‟tread the book Did you read the book
yesterday. yesterday?

She did her homework. She didn‟t do her homework. Did she do her homework?

He cut his finger last night. He didn‟t cut his finger Did he cut his finger last
last night.
It worked all day. It didn‟t work all day. Did it work all day?

We saw a lion. We didn‟t see a lion. Did we see a lion?

They went to the beach. They didn‟t go to the Did they go to the beach?
beach.

Note:in the negative we use auxiliary verb didn‟t +infinitive of verb. …didn‟t see….
In the interrogative, we use auxiliary verb did + subject + infinitive of verb:Did we see a lion? Did
they go to the beach? Did Sara do her homework?(Hedge, 1995).

2.1.3. The buses

We buse bthe bpast bsimple bfor bactions bcompleted bin bthe bpast. b
e.g. bRita bwent bto bSwaziland blast byear. bI bwasn‟tin bthis bschool btwo bmonths bago. b
We buse bthe bpast bsimple bwith bthe bfollowing btime bexpressions: b
 Yesterday b- bthree bdays b/ bweeks b/ bmonths b/ byears bago b- blast bweek b/month b/year
b- bin b2004 b- bin bthe b19th bcentury b- bin bthose bdays b
2.2. Pastcontinuoustense
Past bcontinuous bis ba bverb btense bused bto btalk babout bactions bthat bwere bin bprogress bat
bthe btime bof bspeaking. bYou bform bit bby bcombining bthe bpast bsimple bof bthe bverb b“to
bbe” b(was/were) bwith bthe bgerund b(“-ing” bform) bof bthe bverb bexpressing bthe baction.
(Hedge, b1995).

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2.2.1. The buses
We buse bthe bpast bcontinuous bto btalk babout ban baction bthat bwas bstill bongoing bat bthe
btime bof bspeaking. bIt’s bused bfor bactions bthat blast ba bcertain bamount bof btime, bnot
bsomething byou bdo bat bonce.
We buse bthe bpast bcontinuous bwhen: b
 two bor bmore bactions bwere btaking bplace bat bthe bsame btime bin bthe bpast. be.g.
bGrandma bwas bcooking bwhile bgrandpa bwas bcleaning bthe bhouse. b
 We bdescribe ban baction bwhich bwas binterrupted bby banother baction bin bthe bpast. be.g.
bThe btelephone brang bwhile bTonecaswas bhaving ba bshower.
2.2.2. Text
Yesterday bKaren band bJoe bplayed btennis. bThey bstarted bat b10 bo’clock band bfinished bat
b11.30. bSo, bat b10.30 bthey bwere bplaying btennis.
They bwere bplaying b= bthey bwere bin bthe bmiddle bof bplaying, bthey bhad bnot bfinished;
bwas/were b+ b-ing bis bthe bpast bcontinuous:he/she/it bwas bplaying, bdoing…we/you/they
bwere bworking…
I bwas bdoing bsomething b= bI bwas bin bthe bmiddle bof bdoing bit bat ba bcertain btime. bThe
baction bor bsituation bstarted bbefore bthis btime, bbut bhad bnot bfinished:
 This btime blast byear bI bwas bliving bin bHong bKong.
 What bwere byou bdoing bat b10 bo’clock blast bnight?
 I bwaved bto bHelen, bbut bshe bwasn’t blooking.
 Sarah bwas bwaiting bfor bthe bbus blast bnight.
 Sarah bwas bwaiting bfor bthe bbus. b
The blast bsentence bdoesn’t breally bmake bsense, bbecause bit bgives bno bcontext.
 I bwas bdrinking btea bwhen bthe bburglar bentered bmy bhome.
 I bwas bdrinking btea.
Just blike bthe bexample babove, bwe bcan’t breally bunderstand bthe bmeaning bof bthe bsecond
bsentence bwithout bextra binformation. bIf byou bdon’t bspecify bthe btime, bit’s bimpossible bto
bunderstand bthe bmeaning bof ba bsentence bwith bthe bpast bcontinuous. bHowever, bthere bis
bone bexception: byou bcan bavoid bspecifying bthe btime bif byou bare banswering ba bquestion
bthat balready bstated bit. b(McArthur, b1984).

7
 I bcouldn’t bcall byou byesterday, bwhat bhappened? bI bwas bworking bovertime.
It bis bimplicit bthat bthe bresponder bwas bworking byesterday bwhen bthe bperson basking
bcouldn’t breach bthem.
2.2.3. Tabela b2:past bsimple bin bthe baffirmative, bnegative band binterrogative bform
Pronouns Affirmative Negative Interrogative
You wereplaying You were not playing Were you playing…?
He/She/It was dancing He/She/It was not dancing he/she/itWas dancing…?

We/You/They wereasking We/You were not asking We/you/they Were asking…?

2.2.4. Examples
We bwere basking ba blot bof bquestions. bShe bwasn‟t bdancing bvery bwell.Were byou
bplaying bcards? bSpelling:
 verbs bthat bend bin b-e: bmake b– bmaking; bcome b– bcoming; bwrite b- bwriting b(we
bremove b-e) b
 verbs bthat bend bin bvowel b+ bconsonant: bstop b– bstopping; brun b– brunning; bswim b-
bswimming b(we bdouble bthe blast bletter).(McArthur, b1984).
2.2.5. Combining bpast bsimple band bpast bcontinuous

We buse bthese btwo btenses btogether bwhen bwe bwant bto btalk babout ban bevent bthat
bhappened bduring bthe baction bexpressed bby bthe bpast bcontinuous. bThis bconstruction
bemphasises bthe bsentence bin bpast bsimple band buses bthe bpast bcontinuous bas ba bway bto
bprovide bmore binformation. bYou’ll bmostly bsee bthese btenses bcombined bin bstories.
b(Murphy, b2004).
2.2.5.1. Examples
 She bwas brunning bwhen bshe bheard bthe bexplosion.
Here bthe bact bof bhearing bthe bexplosion bhappens bwhile bthe bsubject bis brunning. bBoth
bevents bare bin bthe bpast, bbut b“running” bwas bin bprogress, band b“hearing” bhappened
bwhile b“running” bwas bin bprogress.
In bthis bsentence, bthe bmain baction bis bhearing bthe bexplosion, bwhile brunning bis bused bto
bprovide bcontext. b

8
Chapter bIII

3. Final bConsiderations
The bsimple bpast bis boften bclose bin bmeaning bto bthe bpresent bperfect. bThe bsimple bpast
bis bused bwhen bthe bevent bhappened bat ba bparticular btime bin bthe bpast, bor bduring ba
bperiod bwhich bended bin bthe bpast b(i.e. ba bperiod bthat bdoes bnot blast bup buntil bthe
bpresent btime). bThe bpast bcontinuous bis bused bto bdescribe ban baction bin bprogress bat ba
bspecific bmoment bin bthe bpast, bor bto bdescribe bthose bactions bthat bwere binterrupted bby ba
bshort baction bin bthe bpast. bThis btime bframe bmay bbe bexplicitly bstated, bor bimplicit bin
bthe bcontext b(for bexample bthe bpast btense bis boften bused bwhen bdescribing ba bsequence
bof bpast bevents).

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4. Bibliography
 Arnold bJ. b& bHarmer bJ. b(1988) bAdvanced bWriting bSkills, bLondon: bLongman. b
 Arnold bJ. b& bHarmer bJ. b(1988) bAdvanced bWriting bSkills, bLondon: bLongman. b
 Aztar, bB bShrimper b(1989) bUnderstanding band bUsing bEnglish bGrammar, bNew
bJersey: bPrentice-Hall. b
 Hedge bT. b(1995) bWriting, bOxford: bUP.
 Hedge bT. b(1995) bWriting, bOxford: bUP. b
 McArthur bT. b(1984) bthe bWritten bWord bBook b2, bOxford: bOUP. b
 Naylor, bH. b& bMurphy, bR. b(2001). bEssential bGrammar bin bUse: bSupplementary
bExercises bwith bAnswers. bCambridge: bCambridge bUniversity bPress. b

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