past tenses, habits in past, used to, would, meanings and uses

1. Habitual events and specific incidents

2.  Past simple: for the main actions in a story:
Ex.: She opened the door and, when she saw the
murderer, she screamed.
 Past continuous: for descriptions, to set the
scene and describe actions in progress:
Ex.: It was raining, she was wearing a raincoat….
 Past perfect: to talk about a completed action
before another one in the past.
Ex: When Josh arrived, he had already killed her.
 Past perfect continuous: to talk about an action
in progress before another one in the past:
Ex.: He was really angry. He had been waiting for
the train for 1 hour, when it finally came.

3.  Used to/would + infinitive: they often convey
a sense of nostalgia about the past, for
stylistic reasons we use a variety of
expressions when narrating a story.
 Ex.: At Christmas we used to wake up late, we
would help our mum in the kitchen. Then we
opened our presents.

4.  Would is ONLY used to describe repeated actions in the
past, never with stative verbs or to describe situations.
Ex: When I was a child, I would go to bed very early, my
mum would read to me.
 Would requires a time reference:
Ex: We would play tennis is wrong but When I was young
we would play tennis at school is correct.
 Used to: both for repeated past actions and states, it
stresses that something has changed:
Ex: I used to go out every day when I was a student, now I
don’t have the energy to do that. (ACTION)
I used to be good-looking when I was young. (STATE,
Would is wrong here)

5.  QUESTIONS: Did you use to wake up early?
 NEGATIVES: No, I didn’t use to wake up early

6.  Always+ past continuous: for irritating
habits in the past:
Ex.: She was always criticizing everybody .