Past Tense

By Mrs Hira Ayaz

What is a Past Tense?
• The past tense in English is used:

• to talk about the past

• to talk about hypotheses (when we imagine something
• We use these forms:

• to talk about the past:

• He worked at McDonald's. He had worked there since July.
• He was working at McDonald's. He had been working there since July.
• to refer to the present or future in hypotheses:
• It might be dangerous. Suppose they got lost.

• This use is very common in wishes:

• I wish it wasn't so cold.

• and in conditions with if:

• He could get a new job if he really tried.

• If Jack was playing, they would probably win.
4 Forms of Past tense
Past indefinite
Past continuous
Past perfect
Past perfect continuous
• Simple Past Tense

• The simple past tense is used to indicate or describe something that

happened or existed in the past. The situations or conditions to use a
simple past tense is to:

• describe an action, event or condition that occurred in the past or at

a specified time.
• describe a state of mind in the past or a feeling that was felt in the past.
• refer to someone who has died
• Example:
• Alex went to Mexico last year.
• I ate a mango a few minutes ago.
• He had an exam yesterday.
• I used to travel around the world when I was fit. (It can also indicate a
habit of the past which is not a habit in the present.)
Exercise
• Put the verbs into the simple past:

• Last year I___________ (go)  to England on holiday.

• It_________ (be)  fantastic.
• I______ (visit)  lots of interesting places.
• I___________ (be)  with two friends of mine .
• In the mornings we________ (walk)  in the streets of London.
• In the evenings we______ (go)  to park.
• The weather________ (be)  strangely fine.
• It _________(not / rain)  a lot.
• But we________ (see)  some beautiful rainbows.
• Where _______(spend / you)  your last holiday?
• Past Continuous Tense
• Past continuous tense is used to indicate an ongoing event in the past.
Other conditions where past continuous tense is used are:
• To show that someone is in the middle of an action. Example: I was
calling him when he came home.
• Is used to describe an action taking place when another
occurred. Example: While they were painting the door, I was painting the
windows.
• For an action that was taking place in the past when an interrupted
action happened.  Example: While he was working on his laptop,
he fell asleep.
Example
• Alex was sleeping yesterday at 6.30 AM
• I was cleaning the dishes at around 5.30-6.30 yesterday.
• Put the verbs into the correct form (past progressive).
• When I phoned my friends, they_______ (play)  monopoly.
• Yesterday at six I________ (prepare)  dinner.
• The kids_______ (play)  in the garden when it suddenly began to rain.
• I________ (practice)  the guitar when he came home.
• We_________ (not / cycle)  all day.
• I tried to tell them the truth but they _________(listen / not) .
• What________ (you / do)  yesterday?
• Most of the time we__________ (sit)  in the park.
• Past Perfect Tense
• The past perfect tense in a sentence or conversation describes an event
that happened in the past before another event in the simple past
tense was completed in the past. The situations where a Past Perfect
Tense is used are to:
• indicate an event that has occurred and been completed in the
past. Example: Meenu had borrowed money from the bank to buy her new
car.

• describe an action that happened in the past before another action took
place. Example: We had reached their house after the dinner was over.
• Put the verbs into the correct form (past perfect simple).

• The storm destroyed the sandcastle that we______ (build) .

• He______ (not / be)  to Cape Town before 1997.
• When she went out to play, she____ (do / already)  her homework.
• My brother ate all of the cake that our mum______ (make) .
• The doctor took off the plaster that he___ (put on)  six weeks before.
• The waiter brought a drink that I________ (not / order) .
• I could not remember the poem we______ (learn)  the week before.
• The children collected the chestnuts that_______ (fall)  from the tree.
• She_____ (not / ride)  a horse before that day.
• Past Perfect Continuous Tense

It is used to describe an ongoing action that started in the past and

continued for sometime in the past.
It expresses continual nature of action that started and stopped at some
point in the past.

This type of sentence includes a time-reference that shows when the

action started and when it ended.
• Put the verbs into the correct form (past perfect progressive).

• We______ (sleep)  for 12 hours when he woke us up.

• They____ (wait)  at the station for 90 minutes when the train finally
arrived.
• We_______ (look for)  her ring for two hours and then we found it in the
bathroom.
• I_______ (not / walk)  for a long time, when it suddenly began to rain.
• How long_______ (learn / she)  English before she went to London?
• I______ (not / work)  all day; so I wasn't tired and went to the disco at
night.
• They _______(cycle)  all day so their legs were sore in the evening.