1. Past Tenses  1. Simple Past   For past actions/ events, which are usually short in duration   the past time of these actions/events may/may not be given  E.g. I borrowed two books last week.  The teacher told us a bad news.

2. Simple Past   must be used when the word ago is used.  E.g. I visited Peter three days ago.  Used to + Bare infinitive They are the basic verb forms, e.g. go, read, do, without adding ‘s’/‘es’/ ‘ed’   For showing PAST Habits, not the present ones.

3.  E.g. I used to swim on Sundays, but in these two years, I usually go fishing.  (here, swimming was the past habit and the present habit is fishing)  Be used to + -ing Be can take the form of “is/am/are”   for present habits  E.g. I am used to studying at night.

4. 2. Past Continuous Tense   For showing what was happening in a particular past moment.   For longer past actions/events  E.g. I was watching TV at 9 p.m. last night.  They were reading books last morning.

5. When/While   linking two actions happening at the same time   long actions: -ing form (e.g. is watching)   short actions: simple form (e.g. opened the door) 

6.  While:   Linking long actions (-ing)  E.g. While he was doing his homework, I was watching TV. While +-ing  I was watching TV while he was doing his homework. While in the front, => “,” While in the central, => no “,”

7.  When:  Linking both long & short actions  E.g. When he was doing his homework, I was watching TV.  (two long actions) When + -ing E.g. When he entered the room, he smelt something burning. (two short actions) When + simple past Can when be placed at the centre of the sentence? YES

8. How about linking one long and one short actions?  E.g. I was having my bath when he entered the flat. Long Short While he was doing his homework, the telephone rang. Long Short

9. 3. Past Perfect Tense   used when there are two past actions   one action before the other action A action B now 2 days ago 1 day ago now

10.  action A action B now