Past Simple vs. Past Continuous

Dora: What happened? How did you burn your ears?

John: Well, I was ironing when the phone rang and I answered the iron by mistake.

Look at these underlined verbs?

happened, was ironing, rang, answered

Can you remember what tense forms they are?

These are the forms of Past Simple Tense.

was ironing – Past Continuous.

Today at the lesson we’ll revise the formation and the use of these two past tenses: Past Simple and Past Continuous.

Formation

We form the Past Simple with the help of regular verbs by adding –ed to the main verb:

And we form the Past Simple of irregular verbs differently. That’s why we have to learn them by heart or use the list of irregular verbs in English.

We form questions and negations with the help of auxiliary verb did.

To make a question we put did before the subject.

E.g.

Did he finish his home task? or

Did he speak at the lesson?

And we form negations by putting not after did – did not or didn’t for short.

E.g.

He didn’t finish. or He didn’t speak.

Remember! In questions and negations, we take the first form of the verb.

We form the Past Continuous with the verb to be and the main verb with the –ing suffix.

To be looks like was if we talk about one person I, he, she it and it looks like were when you/we/they acted.

We form questions by putting was/were before the subject.

E.g.

Was he studying? or Were they studying?

To make negatives we need to put not after was/were – wasn’t/ weren’t for short.

E.g.

She wasn’t studying. or They weren’t studying.

Usage

Now let’s compare the usage of these two tenses Past Simple and Past Continuous.

We use the Past Simple to talk about a complete action in the past.

E.g.

The plane landed at the airport at nine o’clock yesterday morning.

(The time is stated. The action is complete. The plane landed.)

The Past Continuous is used for an action which was in progress at a stated time in the past. We do not mention when the action started or finished.

E.g.

At five o’clock yesterday morning the plane was flying to Sydney from New York.

(We do not know when it left or reached its destination)

We often use the Past Simple to talk about the actions which happened one after the other in the past.

E.g.

I saw a beautiful bird in the garden. I went to get my camera. The bird flew away. I returned with my camera.

We use the Past Continuous to talk about an action that was in progress when something else happened.

We use the Past Continuous for the action in progress (longer action) and the Past Simple for the action which interrupted (shorter action).

E.g.

I was taking photos of a beautiful bird, when the battery ran off.

(was taking photos is longer action, the battery ran off is the shorter action.)

The Past Simple is used for past habits and states which are now finished. In such cases we can also use the expression used to.

E.g.

He played / used to play the guitar when he was young.

Past Continuous shows two or more simultaneous past actions.

E.g.

He was watching TV while she was cleaning.

The Past Simple is used to talk about the lives of people who are no longer alive.

E.g.

Marilyn Monroe starred in a number of successful films.

Past Continuous is used to describe the atmosphere, weather or place before we describe the main event.

E.g.

The sun was shining. The birds were singing. Tom was enjoying boating at the lake.

Do not forget about the time markers that help us to define the tense.

Time expressions used with the Past Simple include:

yesterday,

last night/week/month/year,

two days/weeks/months ago,

then,

when,

How long ago...?,

in 1992/1845.

The Past Continuous is used with the following time expressions:

while,

when,

as,

all day/morning yesterday,

at noon yesterday,

the whole night yesterday,

from 5 to 6 yesterday.

Now it’s time to practice the usage of the past tenses.

Complete the sentences.

1.     He was painting a room when the telephone rang.

2.     The evening was getting darker. People were hurrying home after work. I was standing in a queue at the bus stop. Suddenly somebody grabbed my bag.

3.     Last Saturday Tom invited some friends to the party.

4.     He was making B-B-Q when his guests arrived.

5.     He was working in the garden while his wife was doing shopping.

6.     First he bought a huge bouquet of flowers. Then he signed up a greeting card and hurried up to Ann’s.

7.     They were dancing at the disco club the whole night.

Find a mistake (A, B) and then correct it.

1. While he was fishing, it was starting to rain.

2. George was playing football when his brother was doing karate.

3. He drove his car, so he didn’t answer the phone.

4. She was buying a lottery ticket yesterday and won a big sum of money.

5. He was having a rest while his wife was cooking dinner.

And finally let’s sum up what you’ve done at the lesson:

The Past Simple is formed with the help of regular and irregular verbs.

The Past simple is used to show:

-         a complete action at a stated time in the past;

-         the actions which happened one after the other in the past;

-         to talk about the lives of people who are no longer alive.

The Past Continuous is used to describe:

-         an action which was in progress at a stated time in the past;

-         an action which was in progress when something else happened;

-         to describe the atmosphere, weather or place before we describe the main event.

And don’t forget about the time markers!

See you next lesson.