1. The document discusses the simple past and past continuous tenses in English. The simple past is used to talk about completed actions in the past, while the past continuous describes actions that were ongoing at a specific time in the past. 2. Examples are provided to illustrate the differences, such as "I watched TV last night" using the simple past versus "I was watching TV at 8:30pm last night" using the past continuous. Exercises are included for the reader to practice forming sentences in both tenses. 3. Key uses of each tense are outlined, such as using the past continuous to describe background situations with "was/were + ing" and using the simple past to specify something that

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SIMPLE PAST TENSESIMPLE PAST TENSE
AND
PAST CONTINIOUSPAST CONTINIOUS
TENSETENSE

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THE STHE SIIMPLE PASTMPLE PAST
• The simple past is used to describe actions and
events that are now completed and no longer true
in the present.
• We use the simple past to indicate exactly when
an action or event took place in the past

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1. Put the verbs into the correct form.
• Last year I ______(spend) my holiday in Ireland.It ______(be)
great.I _________ (travel) around by car with 2 friends and we
________ (visit) lots of interesting places.In the evenings we usually
_______ (go) to a pub.One night we even _________(learn) some
Irish dances.We ______ (be) very lucky with the weather.It
____________(not/rain) a lot.But we ______ (see) some beautiful
rainbow.
spent was
travelled
visited
went learnt
were
didn’t rain saw

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• The Past Continuous describes an action that was
already happening at a time in the past and was not
finished at the time.
• It means that the action was in progress at a certain time
in the past.
Example: At 5 o´clock Mark was playing football with his
friends.
• It is often used with time expressions as while and as.
PAST CONTINUOUS TENSEPAST CONTINUOUS TENSE

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It is the past form of simple
continuous tense
• He is listening to music now.
• He was listening to music at this time yesterday.

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I was
studying
You
We
They
were
He
She
It
was
Past continuous tense
I
Was not
Wasn’t
studying
You
We
They
were not
weren’t
He
She
It
was not
wasn’t
NegativeAffirmative

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Past continuous tense
Was I
studying?
Were
you
we
they
Was
he
she
it
Interrogative

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NOTE: Verbs of thinking and feeling usually do not use
the Past Continuous but the Past Simple.
E.g.: think, know, see, hear, like
• We were good friends.We knew each other well.
(not “were knowing”)
• I was enjoying the party but Chris wanted to go home.
(not “was wanting”)

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Use the past continuous together with the
simple past:
• I was watching TV. when the phone rang.
• What were you doing when the phone rang?
(background description – I was watching T.V.)
• What happened when you were watching T.V.?
(specific event – the phone rang.)
now

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2. Fill in the gaps with the past continuous of the
verbs in brackets.
1. Mark ____________ (study) when the telephone rang.
2. They _______________ ( not/watch) T.V when Susan arrived.
3. ______ we __________ (shop) when we met Susan?
4. While I ____________ (cross) the street, a car had a puncture.
5. The teacher ____________ (not/talk) when John arrived.
6. The pupils ___________ (play) when the bell rang.
7. Lucy ____________ (study) when someone knocked at the door.
was studying
weren’t watching
Were shopping
wasn’t talking
were playing
was studying
was crossing

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Use the past continuous to describe actions
that were happening at the same time:
• I was watching TV. while he was talking on the phone.
now

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Philip Tom
03.00
Sally Ann
While Philip was playing computer games, Tom was playing basketball
at 3 o’clock yesterday.
3.What were they doing at 3 o’clock
yesterday?
While Sally was cleaning the house, Ann was having a bath.
Jim the baby
While Jim was playing the violin, The baby was crying.
Sarah Jack
While Sarah was dancing, Jack was listening to music.

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Mary Bob
George
Celine
Adam
David
4.What were they doing yesterday?
08.00
10.00
05.00

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And now it’s your
turn !
What were you doing
yesterday

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1. To say that something was in
progress at a certain time in the
past
2. To describe a background
situation (was / were + ING)
•I was watching T.V. at 8.30
pm last night. (I started at 8.00 pm
and was still watching T.V. at 8.30 pm).
Key word: while
1. To say what happened at a
specific time in the past
2. To describe a shorter action
that happened in the middle of
another situation
•I watched T.V. last night.
Key word: when
Simple Past Past Continuous

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5.Fill in the blanks with simple past or past
continuous.
My friend 1)________ (invite) me to a party.Everyone 2)_____________
(chat) and the DJ 3)___________ (play) great music all night long. I
4)________ (dance) with a tall and very good-looking man. He
5)_______ (be) quite friendly. While we 6)___________ (talk), a
beautiful woman with long blond hair 7)________ (ask) him to
dance. He 8)________ (say) yes! I 9) ___________(eat) some pizza when
suddenly the most good-looking man at the party 10)________ (ask) me
to dance. I 11)______ (be) the happiest woman in the world! We 12)
________ (have) a wonderful time that evening.
invited was chatting
was playing
danced
was were talking
asked
said was eating
asked
was
had

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