Past Tense and Past Continuous
Simple Past Tense Actions, events, states that started and finished in the past (…ago, last …, yesterday… ) Ask your partner What did you do yesterday? What did you do last Saturday night? Where were you last Sunday morning? What did you do to celebrate your last birthday?
Past Continuous: Use 1 Past actions that were in progress at a particular time in the past Sam’s Schedule 8 – 9: had breakfast 9 – 10: finished his homework 10 – 11: read a book 11 – 12: ate lunch 12 – 2: watched soccer match on TV 2 – 5: took a nap
Ask a classmate – use past continuous verbs: I was ___ ing Where were you last Thursday at 8 p.m.? What were you doing? What were you doing Friday at 5 p.m.? Where were you? Who were you with?
Past Continuous: Use 2 Use 2: Two (or more) actions that were in progress in the past at the same time. Use while While my sister was skating, our neighbor was walking her dog, a man was cycling and I was taking this picture.
Past Continuous: Use 3 Describe and set the scene; tell what was going on or in progress when something else happened or interrupted another action. Use when Examples: Car accident In the park A Crime I was Reading a book when there was a car accident in front of my house and criminal broke into my neighbor’s house.
Practice: Do you have a good memory? Directions: Look at the following picture for one minute. Try to remember as many details as you can, but don’t write anything.
One minute…
What do you remember? What were the people doing? What was hanging from the ceiling? What was the bank robber wearing? What color was his hair? What was covering the robber’s face? Who was right-handed or left-handed?
Some practice 1. I (make) _____________ a deposit at the bank when a man (pull) _____________ out a gun and ________ (start) to rob the bank. 2. I (drive) _______________ to work when I (see) _________the neighbor’s door open and someone in the house. 3. They ___________ (walk) on the sidewalk when a car (hit) _________ a person. 4. She (talk) _________to a friend at the mall when a man (come) _______ behind her and (grab) _________ her purse. 5. I (watch) _______________ TV when I ___________(hear) gunshots next door. 6. I (work) ___________ in the garden and my sister (find) ___________ some matches and (light) ___________ two candles in the living room.
Some Tips … (first action in progress) (interrupting event) Use while for two simultaneous actions: She was talking while he was driving. Use when: one action in progress was interrupted by another event: I was just leaving when you called. (first action in progress) (interrupting event)
Extra practice: http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/past-simple-past- continuous-exercise-1.html https://elt.oup.com/student/project3rdedition/level5/unit1/gram mar/exercise1?cc=us&selLanguage=en