This document discusses the differences between the past simple, past continuous, and past perfect verb tenses in English. It provides examples of when to use each tense, including short examples to illustrate usage. Key points include:
- Past simple is used for completed past actions at a specific time or repeated actions.
- Past continuous expresses an ongoing action in the past. It can show two simultaneous actions or an interrupted action.
- Past perfect expresses an action that was completed before another past action or time. It is used with words like "before" and "by the time."
2. Discuss with a partner:
1. What were you doing this time yesterday?
2. Where did you go last weekend? What did you do there?
3. What was your favourite subject at school? Why?
4. What were you planning to do when the Covid pandemic started in 2020?
5. Where did you go on holiday with your family when you were little?
6. When did you join Avenga? Where did you work before Avenga? Did you like it there?
3. Past Simple Form:
I worked at EPAM before Avenga.
+ S + V2/ed
-S + didn’t + V1
? Did + S + V1…?
4. Use Past Simple for:
1. Short past actions that happened in the past and we know when exactly
(Yesterday I bought a bottle of milk.)
2. Past habits and repeated actions (My grandpa smoked.)
3. Several short past actions that happened one after another (Yesterday I woke
up, had breakfast and went to work.)
4. With words: Yesterday, the day before yesterday, … ago, last…, in (1991), when
7. Past Continuous Form:
I was working this time yesterday.
+ S + was/were + Ving
-S + wasn’t/weren’t + Ving
? Was/were + S + Ving…?
I/he/she/it + was
We/you/they + were
8. Use Past Continuous for:
1. For actions in progress at a specific moment in the past (At 6 o’clock yesterday
I was doing my homework.)
2. For 2 long actions happening at the same time (While I was doing my
homework, my mum was cooking dinner.)
3. For a long action interrupted by a short action (I was reading when my dog
threw up in my shoe.)
4. With words: Yesterday from… till, at … o’clock; while, as, when
9. Answer the questions:
◦What had you done yesterday by the end of your workday?
◦Had you been abroad by the time you turned 18?
◦Had you passed all the necessary certifications by the end
of 2020?
10. Use Past Perfect for:
1. A short past action that happened before another past action (I had done my
homework before mum came home from work.);
2. A short past action that happened before a moment in the past (By the end of the day
yesterday I had cleaned the whole flat.);
3. With words before, after, by, by the time, as soon as, when (+ all Present Perfect
Markers)
