1. Choosing a past tense

2. Choosing a past tense yelled d Simple – action has already happened
Progressive – action happened at some specific time in the past
Perfect – action occurred some time in the past before another action was begun
Perfect progressive – a past continuous action that was completed before some other past action

3. Simple action has already happened
usually add –ed or -d if it ends in -e.
Be careful of irregular verbs.
I went to the store.
Yolanda helped the boy.
Monsters and aliens landed on the moon.
Ms. Smith checked over my answers.
The choir sang a song.

4. Progressive action happened at some specific time in the past
form with was/were
add –ing
I was going to the store.
Yolanda was helping the boy.
Monsters and aliens were landing on the moon.
Ms. Smith was checking over my answers.
The choir was singing a song.

5. Perfect
action occurred some time in the past before another action was begun
form with had
use past participle
I had gone to the store.
Yolanda had helped the boy.
Monsters and aliens had landed on the moon.
Ms. Smith had checked over my answers.
The choir had sung a song.

6. Perfect progressive
a past continuous action that was completed before some other past action
form with had been
add –ing to the verb
I had been going to the store.
Yolanda had been helping the boy.
Monsters and aliens had been landing on the moon.
Ms. Smith had been checking over my answers.
The choir had been singing a song.