The document presents an overview of the past continuous and past simple verb tenses, including their structures, forms, uses, and common mistakes. It features educational content, exercises, and a narrative example with a mystery involving a family's missing jewelry to illustrate the application of these tenses. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of clear instruction to help students differentiate between past simple and past continuous.

1. Past Continuous
Presented by Leidy Blanco, Kely Ramirez, Yirley
Posada and Santiago Rodriguez.
Students Bilingual Education
Subject: E-Learning
Bogotá, Colombia
2017

2. Table of content
1. Introduction
2. Crimen session vocabulary
3. Past Simple
3.1. Structure
3.2. Uses
3.3. Forms
3.4. Practice
4. Past continuous
4.1. Structure
4.2. Uses
4.3. Forms
4.4. Practice
5. Common mistakes
6. Evaluation
7 .References

3. 1. INTRODUCTION
In English you can find different English Verb Tenses, one of them is the
past continuous that is related to actions that were in progress at a specific
time in the past. It is important to take into account that sometimes students
can be confused between past simple and past continuous and it is important
to give them clear instruction and a good explanation about these two topics.
In this class, you will focus on explanations and differences between past
simple and past continuous that you can apply in your differents exercises in
order to enrich your knowledge about these topics.

4. 2. Crime session vocabulary
Match the words with the pictures.
1. Recidivism ( )
2. Alibi ( )
3. Fingerprint ( )
4. Crime evidence ( )
C
B
D
A

5. (E)
(F)
(G)
(H)
(I) (J)
5. Bribery ( )
6. Burglary ( )
7. Setting ( )
8. Witness ( )
9. Rober ( )
10. Sleuth ( )

6. •students must read the whole story “Who is the invisible robber” in order,
students will have to read and underline with different color the simple past and
present continuous
students must read the whole story “Who is the invisible robber” in order, students will have to read
and underline with different color the simple past and present continuous
“Who is the robber”
One day, a mysterious bag with a strange smell appeared at the front door of the Morales’ family house. They did not
know what was happening and what the bag contained, on that moment they felt terrified, but first of all, I want to tell
you how everything started, so one day there was a rich family whose members are Rogelio, the father, who was an
important businessman; Alicia, the mother, that was a recognized model, and finally we have Daniel, the Alicia’s and
Rogelio’s son, he was an intelligent student.
The family has a great variety of beautiful jewelry including earrings, necklaces, bracelets and watches, all of them with
diamonds inlaid, but what happened? Because everything seems to be okay in the family, what is the problem? Do you
have some ideas? I suppose that you do not have any idea, so the family's jewelry started to disappear and nobody
have idea about how, and day by day the losses increased, so the family decided to contract a sleuth. He was in charge
of trying to find the evidence and the thief because the family was having an economic crisis and they could get in
bankrupt.

7. • One night, all of them were eating in the living room, and suddenly, all the furniture started to move so they do not have
idea and said “what happen-what happen” and three minutes after everything stopped. Immediately, the sleuth started to
look for objects with evidentiary value but he did not find anything, but the mysterious thing was that the only burglarized
objects were jewels. Two months after, the sleuth still did not find any evidence, so the family decided to fire him, since he
couldn’t find the robber, or at least any clue.
The Morales family had a meeting and talked about the case, and decided that they would find the robber by themselves.
Rogelio was watching TV in his living room when, by surprise, the bed started to move and at the same time, there were
jewelry flying. On the other hand, Daniel was playing soccer inside the house, more exactly, near to Rogelio’s bedroom, he
kicked the ball so hard that it flew inside Rogelio's room and suddenly a paint can fell, which spilled and it was in that
moment when the thief was finally discovered... Rogelio realized who the thief was, but he did not want to tell to the family
members, since he was planning to sell it and invest the money in his business to become richer and don't share it with others.
He took the thief to the basement, which was dark, full of cobwebs and with an antiquity smell in order to avoid any witness in
his alibi. Do you remember the mysterious bag?...
Rogelio spent many days trying to bribe the thief but he did not agree, so he decided to kill him and for unknown reasons, the
body resulted in a bag at the door of his house, completely dismembered. The wife decided to do a fingerprint analysis since,
at least the fingers or paws were somehow visible and this is how they finally resolved everything. The result was that the
dismembered body belonged to the dog of the house, who was invisible, and that was why it was never discovered by
anyone, who killed it was Rogelio and this mysterious case was solved. As a result, the basement and this horrible situation
became one of his worst nightmares.

8. 3. Past Simple
• We use the simple past for complete actions in the past, also there are regular verbs
and irregular verbs.

9. 3.1structure
There are two basic structures
Affirmative sentences in the Simple Past – regular verbs and irregular verbs
subject+past verb + complement
we celebrated mom's birthday last monday Regular verbs
My Friend gave me his last bar of chocolate Irregular verbs

10. 3.2 Uses
Use 1. completed action in the past, is when the action started and finished a specific time in the past
Examples:
I saw my twin yesterday.
Last year, My best friend traveled to Mexico
Did you have dinner last night?

11. Use 2
Series of Completed Actions: it's a list completed actions in the past.
I finished housework, walked to the supermarket, and found a nice place near to
the bank.
1 2 3

12. Use 3.
Duration in past: duration which starts and stops in the past, is used with specific
expressions such as: all day, all year, for five minutes
For example:
1: I lived in Spain for two years.
2: We talked on the phone for ten minutes
Use 4.
Habits in the Past describe a habit which stopped in the past and also you can
include expression such as always, often, usually, never
For example:
1:He never played the piano

13. 3.3 forms
How do we form the Simple Past?
We form the Simple Past:
• with regular verbs: infinitive + -ed
• with irregular verbs.
you can see a list on indefinite and irregular verbs on the next link
http://www.saberingles.com.ar/lists/verbs.html

14. Subject + auxiliary do +main verb
She didn't like the movie: regular verb
in irregular verb It is not necessary to change the verb when you use the auxiliary in past
Mary did not go to work yesterday.
Question sentences there are two types of questions: Yes / No questions and Wh– questions.
'Yes / No' Questions: There are only two possible answers: Yes or No.
Examples:
was he at the hospital? yes, he was at the hospital
Negative Sentences

15. 'Wh' Questions
Examples:
What have they done?
When can I see you again?
Where did Elliot live?
Which river is longer, the Nile
or the Yangzi ?
Who wants an apple?
Whom are you going to invite?
Whose cell phone is on the
table?
Why did you come here?
how did they travel?

16. More examples
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE
I was play soccer I did not play soccer was I play soccer ?
You were students we were not teachers Were you teachers?
You ate seafood last night You did not eat seafood last night Did you eat seafood last night?
We read the bible in a year We did not read the bible in a year Did you read the bible in a year?
you were angry You were not angry Were you angry?

17. 3.4 Practice
Use the words in brackets to complete each of the following sentences, Do not forget to use the simple
past
Example: (I/live) _I lived_ in spain the lat year
1. (you/see) Luisa yesterday?
2. I (last/see) him 3 days ago.
3. He (not/be) at the party on Sunday because he was away on business
4. Where (she/go) for her holidays?
5. How long (it/take/you) to drive from New York to Boston ?
6.(you/enjoy) your holiday in Colombia?
7.I (see) a great history program on TV last Monday
8. I (not/eat) the seafood because I want not hungry
9. Why (you/not/get) up earlier? you are going to be late
10. Why (you/not/be) at work yesterday?Were you Hospitalized?

18. 2. Complete the following sentences with the words provided below, with the correct form of each verb.
take, go, have, leave, have, arrive, say, dream take, ask, read, read, go, buy, not, read, take,
play, leave, be, watch, go drink, return, go,
Sam got up early yesterday morning and ______________ a bath. Then he ________________
down to the kitchen and ________________ two cookies and _____________ a cup of coffee. Sam
works in police station and, yesterday he ______________ the house at about 11 o'clock.
He _____________ the train and he __________________ at work at 8.30. He ________ ‘good
morning' to his coworker, Julio, and then he _____________ all the neighborhood demands that were
on his table. Then he _____________ Julio for a cup of Tea and he ______________ four very
important demands.
At two o'clock, Tom ________________ for lunch and ________________ his bible. He
___________________ to the office at four o'clock and ______________ at six. He
__________________ the train because a cousin __________________ Him in the car.
In the evening, he __________________ soccer and __________________ shopping in the local
groceries where he __________________ a lot of candies. He _______________ very exhausted in
the evening so he ___________________ a history program. He ________________ to bed at 12
o'clock and he ___________________ to be a hero.

19. 4. Past Continuous
The past continuous tense is the one that refers to events that happened in
the past for a period of time. It can be seen as a combination of the past
form and the progressive form.

20. 4.1 Structure
The basic structure of the past continuous is:
Subject + was/were + (verb+ing) + complement.
For example:
They were eating in the restaurant yesterday.

21. 4.2 Uses
The past continuous form is used to:
• To talk about a temporary situation around a particular time in the past.
Example:
He was driving home at the rush hour.

22. • To describe a completed past event. In this case, both past simple and
continuous are used.
Example: When she was trying to catch the cat, it runned away.
• To talk about two past actions that happened over the same period of time.
Example: I was reading while my mother was cooking.

23. • To talk about a temporary situation in the past.
Example: We were studying at an institute during the last vacations.
• To emphasize that repeated actions went on for a temporary period of past
time.
Example: I was going to the library every day to study for the exam.

24. • To talk about repeated events that provide a longer background to something
else that happened.
Example: When the pain in the back started, I was working at the factory.

25. 4.3 Forms
• The affirmative form of the past continuous is:
Subject + was/were + (verb+ing) + complement
Example:
I was playing in the park yesterday

26. • The negative form of the past continuous is:
Subject + was/were + not + (verb+ing) + complement
Example:
I was not playing in the park yesterday, I was at home

27. • The interrogative form of the past continuous is:
was/were + subject + (verb+ing) + complement + ?
Example:
Was I playing in the park yesterday?

28. 4.4 Practice
Complete the sentences using these pair of verbs. Use the past simple in one space and the past
continuous in the other.
1. Just as I ________ into the bath the fire alarm _______ off.
2. Helen_________ her leg while she __________ in Switzerland.
3. We ________ when I _________ in a music shop.
4. When his mother ________ in the other direction Steve __________ away quietly.
5. I ________ a drink while I ________ form Pam to arrive.
6. Our guests were early. They __________ as I ________ changed.
Arrive/get go/get met/work look/slip wait/order ski/break

29. Find the mistakes and correct them.
1.While I chatted to Sue, the phone rang.
___________________________________
2.
He is passing the ball to Jones and then ran down the pitch.
___________________________________
3.
Who are they play against last summer?
__________________________________
4.
We didn’t went surfing in Australia last year.
__________________________________
_
5.
I waited for you in the car park when it started to rain.
__________________________________
6.
When he felt ill, he was taking some medicine
. Then, he went to bed.
______________________________________
7.
While he writing someone knocked at th
e door.
______________________________________
8.
The story was started 18th century in a farm
house.
______________________________________
9.
I didn’t driving the car
at two yesterday.
_______________________________________
10.
Did you waiting your brother in the park this
morning?
_______________________________________
Past Simple vs Past Continuous

30. 5. Common Mistakes
1. As We have been said, we use the past continuous tense when the action was
not finished.
2. At the point of time we are talking about. Otherwise for short, finished actions
we use the past simple tense.
3. Here there are some common mistakes to point it out. Let’s check.

31. 1. We use the past simple, not the past continuous, to talk about past habits:
I walked to school every day when I was young.
Not: I was walking to school every day …
2. We use the past simple, not the past continuous, to emphasize completed
events at a specific time in the past:
I called her office at 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon.
Not: I was calling her office at 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon.
3. We use the past simple to refer to a definite time in the past, not the
present perfect or the past perfect:
I woke up at seven o’clock this morning.
Not: I’ve woken up at seven o’clock this morning.

32. 6. Evaluation
Correct the sentences if necessary or put a (tick)
1. Whenever I called in on Sam, he talked on the phone.
2. When I lived in Paris, I was spending three hour a day travelling to and from work.
3. Peterson was winning the tournament four times before he retired.
4. We were having to play netball twice a week when I went to school.
5. The weather was so good last summer that we went to the beach most weekends.

33. 7. References
http://www.saberingles.com.ar/lists/verbs.html
Past continuous vs Past simple tense - Grammar Point. taken from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xajm2K8rOWI
Past simple vs Past continuous.error correction. taken from attachment pdf
http://www.photocopiables.com/resources/past-simple-vs-past-continuous-error-correction
Hewings M. Advanced Grammar in Use. Cambridge University Press. 1999