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Past Simple and Continuous Lesson

This document provides a lesson on the Past Simple and Past Continuous tenses in English grammar. It outlines the forms, uses, and helpful hints for each tense, including examples of completed actions, repeated actions, and simultaneous actions. It also highlights common pitfalls, such as the incorrect use of Past Continuous for regularly repeated actions.

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8 views2 pages

Past Simple and Continuous Lesson

This document provides a lesson on the Past Simple and Past Continuous tenses in English grammar. It outlines the forms, uses, and helpful hints for each tense, including examples of completed actions, repeated actions, and simultaneous actions. It also highlights common pitfalls, such as the incorrect use of Past Continuous for regularly repeated actions.

Uploaded by

aminaimo33
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lesson 04

Grammar

Past simple, past continuous


1. Past Simple

Form

• Affirmative Form: I/you/he/she/it/we/they played …


• Negative Form: I/you/he/she/it/we/they did not (didn’t) play …
• Interrogative Form: Did I/you/he/she/it/we/they play …?

Use:

• Completed actions: I saw the new James Bond film yesterday.


• Repeated actions in the past: I went to the theatre four times last month.
• General facts about the past: Fifty years ago, people didn’t spend as much on
entertainment as they do today.
• Sequential actions in the past: Josh pushed the door open and looked inside the room.

Helpful Hints:

The Past Simple is usually used with:

• yesterday
• last week/summer/year/etc.
• in January/2001/etc.
• an hour/a week/a year ago
2. Past Continuous

Form

• Affirmative Form: I/she/he/it was playing … You/we/they were playing …


• Negative Form: I/she/he/it was not (wasn’t) playing … You/we/they were not
(weren’t) playing …
• Interrogative Form: Was I/she/he/it playing? … Were you/we/they playing?

Usage:

• Actions happening at a specific moment or during a period in the past: At nine


o’clock last night, I was watching TV.
• Simultaneous actions in the past: I was reading a book while you were doing the
washing-up.
• Background actions in stories: It was raining, so Wendy decided to go to the cinema.

Helpful Hints:

The Past Continuous is usually used with:

• at that moment
• at one/two/etc. o’clock
• while

Watch out!

• Past Simple and Past Continuous are often used together when one action happens
during another action: The phone rang while I was watching a DVD.
• Past Continuous is NOT used to describe regularly repeated actions in the past: Last
year, I was going to the cinema every weekend. (Incorrect)

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