Past Simple Tense vs. Past Continuous Tense

Sample sentences• Roderick Smith wentwent to university in 1983, where

he studiedstudied economics. He graduatedgraduated in 1987 and joinedjoined Arthur Anderson. He qualifiedqualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1990, and workedworked for the company for three years.

• The early 1970s was a time when IBM was was beginningbeginning to lose its way and many skilled people were leavingwere leaving to set up their own businesses. Computing was enteringwas entering a new age.

Grammar structure• Here are some reminders about how to

make the past simple and past continuous:

PAST SIMPLE PAST SIMPLE B. Form• The Past Simple is formed by using the past tense form.

Regular verbs add–d–d or –ed–ed to the bare infinitive to form the past tense.

e.g. decide - decided decided work - workedworked

Some verbs, however, have irregular forms for thepast simple and must therefore be learnt.e.g. bring – broughtbrought see – sawsaw

PAST SIMPLE PAST SIMPLE

Spelling rulesSpelling rules

decidee -decideded

retire e – retireded

attempt - attempteded

visit – visiteded

carryy - carriedied

try y – triedied

BUT

obey y - obeyeded

playy - playeded

planan - plannednned

stopop - stoppedpped

admitmit - admittedtted

referfer - referredrred

travell - travelledlled

cancell - cancelledlled

• break – broke• speak – spoke• choose – chose• drive – drove• write - wrote

• drink – drank• begin – began• sing – sang• swim - swam

• think – thought• bring – brought• fight – fought

• cut – cut• put - put• cost – cost• let – let

• sleep – slept• keep – kept• weep – wept• meet - met

•know – knew•draw – drew•fly – flew

•catch – caught•teach – taught

•sell – sold•tell - told

Past Simple (Negative)Past Simple (Negative)

For all verbs (EXCEPT be), use:

didn’t + the infinitive form of THE MAIN VERB

I/you/he/she/it/we/they did not (didn’t) workdid not (didn’t) work.

PAST SIMPLE PAST SIMPLE

• Questions are formed with the auxiliary verb did did and the infinitivethe infinitive. Short answers to yes/no questions repeat the auxiliary.

A: DidDid I/you/he/she/it/we/they workwork?B: Yes, I/you/etc. diddid./No, I/you/etc. didn’tdidn’t.

PAST SIMPLE PAST SIMPLE The verb TO BE follows a different pattern:• I/he/she/it waswas/was notwas not (wasn’twasn’t) …• We/you/they werewere/were notwere not (weren’tweren’t) …• WasWas I/he/she/it …? (YesYes, I/he/she/it waswas./

NoNo, I/he/she/it wasn’twasn’t.)• WereWere we/you/they …? (YesYes, we/you/they

werewere./ NoNo, we/you/they weren’tweren’t.)

PAST SIMPLEPAST SIMPLECOMMON MISTAKES: A common mistake is to use the past tense form innegatives and in questions. We use the auxiliary didand bare infinitive.

WRONG: Did you checked the figures? RIGHT: DidDid you checkcheck the figures?

WRONG: No, I didn’t checked them.RIGHT: No, I didn’tdidn’t checkcheck them.

Past Continuous• Don’t forget that verb BE (WAS/WERE) is

a part of this structure:

I, He, She, It WASWe, You, They WERE+ verb

-ING

He was working on the report all day long.

Past Continuous (Negative)

• For this tense simply add the word NOT after WAS/WERE.

1. She was interviewing candidates for the sales job.

• She was NOT interviewing candidates for the sales job.

2. They were working at home for a few days.• They were NOT working at home for a few days.

Past Simple vs. Past Continuous

When do we use each tense?

We use the past simple to talk about:

1)1) completed actions that completed actions that happened in the pasthappened in the past

2) a definite moment or period a definite moment or period in the pastin the past

3) describing something, e.g. describing something, e.g. the history of a companythe history of a company

4) in reports, e.g. a company’s in reports, e.g. a company’s annual reportannual report

We use the past continuous to …:

1)1) exphasise the duration or exphasise the duration or continuity of a past eventcontinuity of a past event

2) talk about action or activity talk about action or activity that was in progress at a that was in progress at a particular moment of time in particular moment of time in the pastthe past

3) express two (several) express two (several) activities in progress, activities in progress, happening at the same timehappening at the same time

4)4) talk about an action or talk about an action or activity that was already in activity that was already in progress (a background progress (a background event), which was interrupted event), which was interrupted by another actionby another action

PAST SIMPLE PAST SIMPLE 1) completed actions that happened in the 1) completed actions that happened in the pastpast• Alexander Graham Bell inventedinvented the . • James Sainsbury set upset up a dairy in 1869.

The business expandedexpanded and diversifieddiversified, and eventually becamebecame the largest chain of supermarkets in Britain.

We know when the action happened, and this may be mentioned or clear from the situation.

PAST SIMPLE PAST SIMPLE

2) a definite moment or period in the past2) a definite moment or period in the past

•I checkedchecked the figures very carefully last weeklast week.•Ted Turner launchedlaunched CNN in 1980in 1980.•The standard of living in Europe went upwent up

during the 1960sduring the 1960s.•DidDid you discussdiscuss the problem at last week’s at last week’s

meetingmeeting?

PAST SIMPLEPAST SIMPLE

As in the previous examples, the simple past is often used with expressions that refer to points of time in the past.Typical past markers include:

at

on

in

no preposition

6 o’clock/1.15/the end of the year/Christmas

Friday/15th May/the 21st/New Year’s Day

January/2003/the 1990s/summer

yesterday/yesterday morning/last Monday/a few days ago/the day before yesterday/when I was young

PAST SIMPLE 3) describing something, e.g. the history of a company3) describing something, e.g. the history of a company

When George Eastman When George Eastman introduced the first Kodak camera in 1888, he the first Kodak camera in 1888, he wanted to supply the tools of to supply the tools of photography at the lowest possible photography at the lowest possible price to the greatest number of price to the greatest number of people. The rapid growth of his people. The rapid growth of his business business made large-scale large-scale production a necessity. The creation production a necessity. The creation of ingenious tools and processes for of ingenious tools and processes for manufacturing film manufacturing film enabled the the Eastman company to turn out high-Eastman company to turn out high-quality merchandise at prices that quality merchandise at prices that put them within the reach of the general them within the reach of the general public.public.

PAST SIMPLE PAST SIMPLE 4) in reports, e.g. a company’s annual report4) in reports, e.g. a company’s annual report• Last year Last year waswas a tough year for our group. On the a tough year for our group. On the

one hand, we one hand, we earned earned more than a billion dollars more than a billion dollars and and generatedgenerated record cash flow. On the other record cash flow. On the other hand, our total earnings hand, our total earnings declineddeclined and our and our overseas production facilities overseas production facilities underperformedunderperformed..

5) to ask 5) to ask whenwhen an activity happened an activity happened• When did they establish the company?• When did she complete the report?

Past Continuous1)1) to exphasise the duration or to exphasise the duration or

continuity of a past eventcontinuity of a past event

• He was workingwas working on the report all day long.

• During the 1990s computer scientists were tryingwere trying to deal with the millennium bug.

Past Continuous2) to talk about action or activity that was in 2) to talk about action or activity that was in

progress at a particular moment of time progress at a particular moment of time in the pastin the past

• At 3.15 yesterday afternoon, I was was seeing seeing some clients in London.

what were you doing?

at 3.15 yesterday afternoon

Past Continuous3) 3) to express two (several) activities in to express two (several) activities in

progress, happening at the same timeprogress, happening at the same time

• While we were discussingwere discussing cost-cutting measures, the GM was presentingwas presenting the poor results.

discussion of cost-cutting measures

presentation of poor results

• Sorry, I wasn’t listening to you while you were talking.

Past Continuous4)4) to talk about an action or activity that was already to talk about an action or activity that was already

in progress (a background event), which was in progress (a background event), which was interrupted by another action. The second, shorter interrupted by another action. The second, shorter event, is in the past simple.event, is in the past simple.

• Use past continuous to say what was in progress

I was crossing the street …• Use simple past for the

interrupting actionwhen the driver ran the red

light.

•They were talkingwere talking about safety procedures when when the fire alarm went offwent off..•We were discussingwere discussing our expansion plans whenwhen the chairman suddenly announcedannounced his resignation. •He was drivingwas driving too fast whenwhen he crashedcrashed the car.

Past ContinuousThe sentence We were discussingwere discussing our expansion plans whenwhen the

chairman suddenly announcedannounced his resignation. can be re-phrased using while + the past continuousWhile While we were discussingwere discussing our expansion plans, the

chairman suddenly announcedannounced his resignation.The activity may or may not continue after the interruption: Paul was doingwas doing some filing whenwhen his boss asked asked him to

fetch an invoice.(Paul fetched the invoice and then probably carried on

with the filing.)Paul was doingwas doing some filing whenwhen the fire broke outbroke out.(Paul probably stopped doing the filing at this point.)

PAST CONTINUOUSPAST CONTINUOUS • The past continuous tense does not

necessarily mean that an activity lasted for a long time:

• I was workingwas working for ABC for 10 years. (WRONG)

• I workedworked for ABC for 10 years. (CORRECT)

• I was workingwas working for ABC when the merger took placetook place. (CORRECT)

Past Continuous (more examples)

5) making polite requests5) making polite requests• I was wanderingwas wandering if you could give me a lift downtown.There is no idea of past time here. The past verb form is a

polite formula and makes the request less direct.

6) for events planned in the past which did not take 6) for events planned in the past which did not take placeplace

• I was planningwas planning to visit the exhibition but I went to the football match instead.

• She was goingwas going to phone them yesterday but didn’t have the time.

PAST SIMPLE OR CONTINUOUS?PAST SIMPLE OR CONTINUOUS?1. The past continuous tense does not tell us whether an

action was finished or not. Perhaps it was finished, perhaps not:

• She was typingwas typing some letters. ( = She was in the middle of typing and we don't know whether she finished typing the letters or not.)

• He was writingwas writing the report. ( = He was in the middle of writing and we don't know whether he finished writing the report or not.)

The past simple tells us that the action was finished:• She typedtyped the letters. ( = She began and finished typing

them.)• He wrotewrote the report. ( = He began and finished writing

it.)

2. We use the past continuous and the past simple together to say that something happened in the middle of something else:

• I was sleepingwas sleeping when the phone rang rang and and woke woke me me upup..

But, to say that one thing happened soon after another, we use the past simple:

• I was sleepingwas sleeping when the phone rang rang andand woke woke me me upup. I wentwent to the hall and answeredanswered the phone.

Compare these two sentences:

• When Tom arrivedarrived, we were discussingwere discussing the proposal. ( = We had already started discussing the proposal when Tom arrived.)

• When Tom arrivedarrived, we discusseddiscussed the proposal. ( = Tom arrived and then we discussed the

proposal.)