The document discusses various aspects of using past tenses in English, including: 1) It explains the forms of the past simple, past perfect simple, and past perfect continuous tenses. 2) It discusses when each tense should be used based on factors like the sequence of events, narrative context, and duration. 3) Examples are provided to illustrate the differences between similar tenses like the past perfect continuous and past continuous. 4) Common difficulties for learners are outlined, such as irregular verb forms and distinguishing tense usage. 5) The forms of the present perfect and present perfect continuous are explained, along with their appropriate usage.

1. The past

2. Key considerations
O Question and negative forms
O Irregular past tense forms
O The spelling of regular past tense forms

3. Past simple

4. question
word
did subject
did not
or
didn’t
past tense
form
Base form
Affirmative
He
They
waited
spoke
Question [When] did you ring?
Negative I didn’t understand

5. question
word
subject
was/
were
not or
‘nt
subject complement
Affirmative The train was late
Question [Where] were the knives?
Negative We weren’t alone

6. When to use
O Finished periods of time
O Precise detail
O Time anchor
O Different kinds of events

7. When to use
1. Things which are repeated over a period of time
2. Single, momentary events
3. Things which are extended over a period of time

8. Past perfect simple

9. question
word
had subject had not or ‘nt
past
participle
Affirmative Everyone had spoken.
Question [Why] had they left?
Negative They hadn’t eaten.

10. When to use
O Sequence of events
O State verbs
O Narrative

11. Past Perfect Continuous

12. Question
word
Had/’d Subject
Had/’d Not or
‘nt
Been+
-ing
form
Affirmative They had
been
losing
a lot of
money
Question What had you
been
doing？
Negative I hadn’t
been
working
for long.

13. When do we use the past
perfect continuous？

14. 1. Sometimes this event or activity stops at the
specified point of time
E.g. He’d been driving on the motorway
without a break for several hours when the
accident happened.

15. 2. Sometimes this event continues beyond the
specified point of time
E.g. The family had been living in the house for
years before they noticed the bulge in the wall.

16. 3. Sometimes this event or activity has
recently finished before the specified point of
time
E.g. His eyes were red. I could tell he’d been
crying.

18. Choosing between tenses
O Crucial choices
1. We called at the house where my mother was living and left some
flowers for here.
→ the speaker’s mother is still living in the house at the time of the
visit
2. We called at the house where my mother had been living to see if
the new people had received any mail for her.
→the mother is now living somewhere else.

19. Past Continuous or
Past Perfect Continuous ？
She had been studying for 45 minutes before I interrupted
her.
→This sentence requires the Past Perfect Continuous
because the action of studying began one time earlier.
She was studying when I interrupted her.
→This sentence requires the Past Continuous because
studying is just an interrupted action in progress.

20. Past Simple or
Past Perfect Simple？
Two days after he had returned from Germany, Britten began to
compose a new song-cycle for Pears, with piano accompaniment.
Two days after he returned (past simple) is also possible here as the
order of events is completely clear,

21. Past Perfect Simple or
Continuous？
O E.g. I had hoped to catch an early-morning bus to
Stonehenge with a view to proceeding on to Avebury for
the afternoon, but this, I apprehended, was an
impossibility.
O → I had been hoping (Past Perfect Continuous ) is also
possible here.

22. Typically difficulty for
learners

23. Comprehension
O The greatest source of potential misunderstanding is in
sentence like this:
O Here, the learner has to:
I knew he liked me. I knew he’d liked me.
Recognize the significance of the tense choice.
Hear the difference between he liked or he’d liked.

24. Speaking and writing
1. Regular and
irregular
2.Simplifying the
forms
3. Avoidance 4. Over-use
5. Misuse 6. Pronunciation

25. The present perfect

26. question
word
have/
has
subject have/
has
not
or
n’t
past
particle
affirmative She
She
has
has
known
Passed
about it for
weeks.
here test.
Question [How long]
[What]
have
have
they
you
worked
eaten?
here?
Negative They
She
haven’t
hasn’t
lived in Shanghai
for long.

27. question
word
have/
has
subject have/
has
no
t
or
n’t
past
particle
affirmative She
It
has
has
being wearing
being raining
glasses for
years.
Question [How
long]
have they been driving?
Negative I
They
haven’t
haven’t
been learning
been paying
Thai for long.
attention.

28. When do we use the
present perfect continuous?

29. We use the present perfect continuous when
we measure the duration so far of a present
action or to specify when it began.
E.g. We’ve been driving for hours.

30. When do we use the
present perfect simple
instead of the present
perfect continuous?

31. 1.Open choice
Like the present perfect continuous, we can use
the present perfect simple when we specify the
beginning of a present action or when we measure
its duration so far.
E.g. He’s smoked/been smoking since he was in
the army.

32. 2.Duration
Sometimes we choose the simple rather than the
continuous form to emphasize that something isn’t
short-term.
Simple: I’ve worked here most of my life. (i.e. long-term)
Continuous: I’ve been working here for just a few days.
(i.e. short-term)

33. 3.Repetition
We can choose the continuous form to stress that
something is repeated.
Simple: I’ve used the swimming pool since we
moved into the district. (i.e. on one or two occasions)
Continuous: I’ve been using the swimming pool
since we moved into the distract. (i.e. repeated)

34. When do we use the
present simple?

35. We use the present perfect simple to refer to
completed events, states or actions in the past
which took place within a period of time which is
unfinished.
E.g. I’ve had two accidents this weeks.