This document compares and contrasts the past continuous and past simple tenses in English. It provides examples of how to form the past continuous using was/were + verb+ing. It also gives examples of how to form the past simple using regular and irregular verbs. Finally, it explains how the past continuous is used for longer actions while the past simple is used for shorter or interrupted actions, and provides examples using when and while to distinguish between the two tenses.

1. PAST CONTINUOUS
VS. PAST SIMPLE

2. PAST CONTINUOUS FORM
• I
• HE/SHE WAS + ING
• IT
Verbs ending in E=ING
Come=coming
Verbs ending in Y= YING
Stay=staying
Carry=carrying
1 syllable CVC=we double C
Drop=dropping/run=running
Clap=clapping
We
You
They
WERE
+ ING

3. • We use the Past Continuous to talk about a specific situation in the
past and images...
• AFFIRMATIVE SB+WAS/WERE+ING+COPLEMENT
• She was dancing in the shower
• We were eating potatoes
• Negative SB+WASN’T/WEREN’T+ING+COMPLEMENT
• He wasn’t driving his car that day
• You weren’t going home after school

4. Past continuous Uses
• We use the Past Continuous to talk about a specific situation in the
past images...
• INTERROGATIVE INVERSION
Was your friend driving
his new bike to his work?
Were your father hiding
there mobiles in work ?

5. Jennifer was meeting her boyfriend for dance.
Paul and his friend Lia were dàncing and having a
great time togheter in the party
Silvia wasn’t painting she was exlplaining us
something cool
Were all the boys wearing a skirt in carnaval?No,
they weren’t
Was Alexandra wearing a blue skirt? Yes, she was

6. PAST SIMPLE
• USES:
We use the past simple to talk about past finished actions
• PAST EXPRESSIONS:
last week, last summer, last year, last month...
Ago (at the end)
• EXAMPLES:
I WENT TO MALTA LAST SUMMER
SHE PLAYED TENNIS LAST WEEK
MY SISTER SANG 8 YEARS AGO

7. FORMS OF SIMPLE PAST
• AFFIRMATIVE: SB+VERB IN PAST+COMPLEMENT
REGULAR & IRREGULAR VERBS
• THIS MORNING I PLAYED TENNIS WITH MY SISTER (REGULAR)
• I BOUGHT A NEW PHONE FOR MY UNCLE (IRREGULAR)
• NEGATIVE DID/
• INTERROGATIVE DIDN’T

8. QUESTION
• QASI
• QUESTION WORD+AUXILIARY(DID)+SUBJECT+INFINITIVE?
• Where did you go after class?
• NEGATIVE
• SUBJECT+ DIDN’T+INFINITIVE
• You didn’t play with me

9. Past Continuous & Past simple
• Past Continuous=LONG ACTIVITY
• Past SIMPLE= Interrupted/short ACTIVITY
WHEN+ past simple
WHILE+past continuous
I was chatting with my friend Dayana WHEN my uncles talk with me
You were paying with our brother WHEN the sun goes down.

10. WHILE=long action
• While I was doing my homework, my brother arrived home
• My father fell while he was reparin a cupboard
WHEN= short action
• I was doing an exam when the teacher goes out
• They were playing football when a player broke his leg.