PAST PROGRESSIVE TENSE (CONTINUOUS)

FUNCTIONS OF THE PAST CONTINUOUS

The past continuous describes actions or events in a time before now, which began in the past and is still going on at the time of speaking. In other words, it expresses an unfinished or incomplete action in the past.

It is used:

§  -     Often, to describe the background in a story written in the past tense, e.g. "The sun was shining and the birds were singing as the elephant came out of the jungle. The other animals were relaxing in the shade of the trees, but the elephant moved very quickly. She was looking for her baby, and she didn't notice the hunter who was watching her through his binoculars. When the shot rang out, she was running towards the river..."

§  -     to describe an unfinished action that was interrupted by another event or action, e.g. "I was having a beautiful dream when the alarm clock rang."

§  -     to express a change of mind: e.g. "I was going to spend the day at the beach but I've decided to get my homework done instead."

§  -     with 'wonder', to make a very polite request: e.g. "I was wondering if you could baby-sit for me tonight."

EXAMPLES

§           They were waiting for the bus when the accident happened.

§            Caroline was skiing when she broke her leg.

§             When we arrived he was having a bath.

§              When the fire started I was watching television.

Note: with verbs not normally used in the continuous form, the simple past is used.

FORMING THE PAST CONTINUOUS

The past continuous of any verb is composed of two parts : the past tense of the verb "to be" (was/were), and the base of the main verb +ing.

Subject                                  Was/Were                             base + ing They                                        were                                        watching Affirmative
She                                          was                                         reading
Negative
She                                          wasn't                                     reading
Interrogative
Was                                          she                                         reading?
Interrogative negative
Wasn't                                      she                                          reading?

TO PLAY, PLAY CONTINUOUS

Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative
I was playing	I was not playing	Was I playing?
You were playing	You were not playing	Were you playing?
He was playing	He wasn't playing	Was he playing?
We were playing	We weren't playing	Were we playing?
They were playing	They weren't playing	Were they playing?

SIMPLE PAST TENSE

FUNCTIONS OF THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE
The simple past is used to talk bout a completed action in a time before now. Duration is not important. The time of the action can be in the recent or the distant past.

EXAMPLES

• John Cabot sailed to America in 1498.
• My father died last year.
• He lived in Fiji in 1976.
• We crossed the Channel yesterday.

You always use the simple past when you say when something happened, so it is associated with certain past time expressions  

• frequency: often, sometimes, always
  I sometimes walked home at lunchtime.
  I often brought my lunch to school.

• a definite point in time: last week, when I was a child, yesterday, six weeks ago
  We saw a good film last week.
  Yesterday, I arrived in Geneva.
  She finished her work at seven o'clock
  I went to the theater last night

• an indefinite point in time: the other day, ages ago, a long time ago People lived in caves a long time ago.

• She played the piano when she was a child.

Note: the word ago is a useful way of expressing the distance into the past. It is placed after the period of time: a week ago, three years ago, a minute ago.

FORMING THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE

PATTERNS OF SIMPLE PAST TENSE FOR REGULAR VERBS

Affirmative
Subject	+ verb + ed
I	skipped.
Negative
Subject	+ did not	+ infinitive without to
They	didn't	go.
Interrogative
Did	+ subject	+ infinitive without to
Did	she	arrive?
Interrogative negative
Did not	+ subject	+ infinitive without to
Didn't	you	play?

TO WALK

Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative
I walked	I didn't walk	Did I walk?
You walked	You didn't walk	Did you walk?
He walked	He didn't walk	Did he walk?
We walked	We didn't walk	Did we walk?
They walked	They didn't walk	Did they walk?

SIMPLE PAST TENSE OF TO BE, TO HAVE, TO DO

Subject	Verb
	Be	Have	Do
I	was	had	did
You	were	had	did
He/She/It	was	had	did
We	were	had	did
You	were	had	did
They	were	had	did

NOTES ON AFFIRMATIVE, NEGATIVE, & INTERROGATIVE FORMS

AFFIRMATIVE

The affirmative of the simple past tense is simple.

• I was in Japan last year
• She had a headache yesterday.
• We did our homework last night.

NEGATIVE AND INTERROGATIVE

For the negative and interrogative simple past form of "do" as an ordinary verb, use the auxiliary "do", e.g. We didn't do our homework last night.
The negative of "have" in the simple past is usually formed using the auxiliary "do", but sometimes by simply adding not or the contraction "n't".

The interrogative form of "have" in the simple past normally uses the auxiliary "do".

EXAMPLES

• They weren't in Rio last summer.
• We didn't have any money.
• We didn't have time to visit the Eiffel Tower.
• We didn't do our exercises this morning.
• Were they in Iceland last January?
• Did you have a bicycle when you were young?
• Did you do much climbing in Switzerland?

Note: For the negative and interrogative form of all verbs in the simple past, always use the auxiliary'did''.

SIMPLE PAST, IRREGULAR VERBS

Some verbs are irregular in the simple past. Here are the most common ones.

TO GO

• He went to a club last night.
• Did he go to the cinema last night?
• He didn't go to bed early last night.

TO GIVE

• We gave her a doll for her birthday.
• They didn't give John their new address.
• Did Barry give you my passport?

TO COME

• My parents came to visit me last July.
• We didn't come because it was raining.
• Did he come to your party last week?