PAST SIMPLE PAST CONTINUOUS S.Montanari

PAST SIMPLE

Affirmative Form Subj.+ Verb (regular or irregular) e.g. I worked in a bank. e.g. I worked in a bank. They lived in Rome They lived in Rome We left yesterday. We left yesterday.

Question Form Did + subj.+verb (infinitive) e.g. Where did you work? e.g. Where did you work? Did they understand? Did she study with you?

Negative Form Subj+ didn’t +verb (infinitive) e.g. We didn’t live in France e.g. We didn’t live in France You didn’t understand He didn’t come by car

PRONUNCIATION Note the different pronunciation of the – ed suffix Note the different pronunciation of the – ed suffix e.g.We lived in France[-d] e.g.We lived in France[-d] He washed his car[-t] They separated in May[-éd]

IRREGULAR VERBS e.g. come -came have-had get- got Sofia came to work late yesterday I had an accident last night They got here at 10 p.m.

However in questions and negatives we use the aux. (did) + the infinitive Did she come by car? Where did they put the book? Why did you buy the salt?

USE The Past Simple is used to: - Express finished action in the past - Express finished action in the past I got up at 7 a.m. this morning I got up at 7 a.m. this morning He met Julia when he was in Greece. He met Julia when he was in Greece. Very often there is a time reference: Very often there is a time reference: yesterday, last week, two months ago etc. yesterday, last week, two months ago etc.

PAST CONTINUOUS

Affirmative Form Subj.+ was/were+ verb –ing form e.g. He was studying Russian e.g. He was studying Russian They were watching TV They were watching TV I was staying in Rimini I was staying in Rimini

Question Form Was/were+Subj.+verb –ing? Was/were+Subj.+verb –ing? e.g.Were you listening? e.g.Were you listening? Where was she living in 2001? What were you talking about?

Negative Form Subj.+was/were not+ verb -ing e.g.We were not travelling together e.g.We were not travelling together You were not listening to me They were not living together

USE To describe an action that was in progress at a specific time in the past Mary was working at 10 yesterday To talk about an action that was in progress when a second action happened I was studying when the electricity went off To talk about two actions that were in progress at the same time in the past I was having a bath while my husband was cooking To give background information in a story It was getting dark, I was walking down the road when I saw a strange man …