form and uses of past simple and continuous. Final practice

1. PAST SIMPLE AND
PAST CONTINUOUS

2. PAST SIMPLE
 AFFIRMATIVE:
 SUBJECT + VERB + ED (or irregular form)
 They talked about life
 They ate chocolate cake
 NEGATIVE:
 SUBJECT + DIDN’T + VERB (in base form)
 He didn’t talk (talked) about his life
 They didn’t eat (ate) cookies
 INTERROGATIVE:
 DID + SUBJECT + VERB (in base form) ?
 Did he go (went) to the cinema last night?
 Did he talk (talked) to the teacher?

3. PAST SIMPLE
 To express actions that happened in a certain
moment of the past.
 YESTERDAY
 LAST + TIME UNIT (year, month, second, minute…)
 NUMBER + TIME UNIT + AGO
 Sometimes we don’t need to mention when the
action happened:
 Who wrote “Hamlet”?
 Cristopher Columbus discovered America

4. PAST CONTINUOUS
 AFFIRMATIVE:
 SUBJECT + WAS/WERE +VERB + ING
 Last night, I was studying at home
 NEGATIVE:
 SUBJECT + WAS/WERE +NOT + VERB + ING
 She wasn’t walking
 INTERROGATIVE:
 WAS/WERE + SUBJECT + VERB + ING ?
 Were you talking to Tom?

5. PAST CONTINUOUS
 To express past actions with some duration effect.
The action started before that moment and probably
continued after that.
 I was studying all day yesterday (duration effect)
 I studied all day yesterday (just informing, no effect)
 To express two past actions happening at the same
time. Used with WHILE.
 While you were reading the paper, I was doing my
homework.

6. PAST SIMPLE &
CONTINUOUS
 A long action (Continuous) interrupted by a short
action (simple) in the past (use of when before the
Past Simple):
 I was singing a song when it began to rain
 He was talking on the phone and she interrupted him.
 When telling a story, the FACTS can go in Past
Simple, the descriptions and atmosphere go in
Continuous.

7. PAST SIMPLE &
CONTINUOUS
It was a beautiful day. The sun ______
was shining
felt
and the birds were flying . He _____
confident and he knew what he must
do. He spoke to the people in the
square. They were looking at him
expectantly.