SIMPLE PAST
Form: Regular verbs: base form + ending
"ed" for all persons (looked, finished). Irregular verbs: simple past
form for all persons (did, came, took). The verb BE: I/he/she/it was;
we/you/they were.
Meaning: The action happened (started and ended) in
the past; there is no connection with the present.
Adverbs of time: yesterday; last week; last year; in
1984; in 2007; an hour ago; a year ago; a long time ago.
The simple past tense expresses an action that happened
in the past. The time of the action is usually clearly specified as referring
to the past, most often with the help of the adverbs of time indicated above. For
examples:
He came back last week.
She was very busy yesterday.
He left two hours ago.
It happened many years ago.
They were in England in 2007.
The concert ended at ten o'clock.
Did he call you last night? – Yes, he did.
Did you go to the park on Sunday? – No, we didn't.
The time of the action expressed by the simple past may
be indicated by a subordinate clause. For example:
It happened when he was six.
When I saw Richard, I asked him about his new company.
When did you see him? – I saw him yesterday.
What did you do when the fire started? – I ran out of the
house.
The time of the action expressed by the simple past may
be implied in the situation referring to the past. For example:
Shakespeare wrote thirty-seven plays.
My parents met in college.
Note again that the simple past expresses completed past
actions that started and ended in the past, including a single past action,
repeated past actions, actions that happened one after another in the past, and
actions (or states) that lasted for a period of time in the past.
She lost her purse yesterday.
He visited her twice last month.
I called them several times yesterday.
She typed a couple of letters, made a couple of phone calls,
had a cup of coffee, and went to the bank.
He sold cars for five years. (Then he became a writer.)
PAST CONTINUOUS
Form: WAS/WERE + Present Participle (e.g. driving, singing, etc.)
Meaning: 1. The action (past continuous) was going on
in the past when another action (simple past) happened. 2. The action was going
on at a specific point of time in the past.
Adverbs of time: when; while; at five o'clock
yesterday; at that moment; at that time; last year.
The past continuous tense expresses an action that was going
on (was in progress) in the past when another action happened, expressed by the
simple past in a subordinate clause. Also, the simple past may be in the main clause,
and the past continuous in the subordinate clause.
I was reading a letter when Tom came in.
When Tom came in, I was reading a letter.
Tom came in when I was reading a letter.
The telephone rang while she was taking a bath.
When I called, Lena was doing her homework and Nina was
reading a book.
It was raining when I woke up.
The past continuous expresses an action that was going on
(was in progress) at a specific point of time in the past. (The point of time
in the past may be a moment or a period of time.) For example:
We were watching TV at three o'clock yesterday.
What were you doing at four o'clock? – I was walking my dog.
Where is my jacket? It was lying here five minutes ago.
He was teaching economics at a business school last year.
The point of time at which the action expressed by the past
continuous was going on may be indicated in another sentence. For example:
I saw two boys in the hall. They were eating ice cream.
What did she say? – Sorry, I wasn't listening.
Sometimes the past continuous is used in the main clause
and in the subordinate clause when two actions were in progress simultaneously.
While Lena was doing her homework, Nina was reading a book.
Her children were watching TV while she was cooking dinner.
Generally, the simple past, not the past continuous, is used
when two actions in a sentence went on for some time in the past and ended in
the past.
When she was a child, she lived in Mexico with her parents.
Her children watched TV while she cooked dinner.
The simple past, not the past continuous, is used when
you enumerate past actions that happened one after another in the past, even if
such actions lasted for some time.
Yesterday he cleaned his room, made dinner, watched TV for
two hours, and walked in the park.
PAST PERFECT
Form: HAD + Past Participle (e.g. realized, known, etc.)
Meaning: The action (past perfect) happened and was
completed before another past action (simple past) or before a specific point
of time in the past.
Adverbs of time: by the time; before; after; when (in
the meanings "by the time; after"); by two o'clock yesterday; by that
time; already.
By the time I got there, the concert had already begun.
He cleaned the garage after he had washed his car.
He had washed his car before he cleaned the garage.
He thought that she had already left for London.
The use of the past perfect with "when, after,
before"
"When" as such doesn't call for the past perfect but is often used with it in the meanings "by the time" or "after" to show the preceding or the following action.
When they called, she had already left. (Meaning: By the time they called, she had already left.)
He called the manager when they had left. (Meaning: He
called the manager after they had left.)
We had already sent all the letters when the manager
arrived. (Meaning: We sent the letters before the manager arrived.)
If it is not necessary to stress that the preceding
action had already happened (had been completed) before the other action in the
past started, the simple past may be used with "when" in the meaning
"after".
When he arrived, we went to a restaurant. (Meaning: After he
arrived, we went to a restaurant.)
He called the manager when they left. (Meaning: He called
the manager after they left.)
The past perfect is not used very often in everyday
speech. It is usually required in sentences with "by the time" and is
also used in sentences with "when" if it is necessary to indicate or
to stress which action happened before and which after the specified action in
the past.
With "before, after", the past perfect is not
really necessary because it is clear which action was before and which after.
The simple past is often used instead of the past perfect with "before,
after", especially in everyday speech.
After they left, he went to bed.
However, if "before" is used in the past context
in the meaning "earlier", the past perfect is required.
He told me that he had never been there before.
Yesterday I watched a good old movie that I hadn't seen
before.
The past perfect is used in sentences of the following
type, often in constructions with inverted word order. (See Inversion in the
section Miscellany.)
No sooner had he entered the house than the telephone rang.
He had hardly said it when the door opened.
Several past events described in succession are usually
expressed by the simple past. But if an earlier completed action is mentioned
among them, such an action is often expressed by the past perfect. For example:
She came home at about seven. She was tired but happy. She
had bought nice presents for her children and a good warm coat for herself. She
went to the kitchen, made tea, and cut a large piece of the pie that she had
made for supper.
He walked quickly to the place where he had left his car. He saw Maria near the entrance to the park. She was walking her dog. He had often stopped to say hello to her and to pat her dog. But today he was in a hurry.
If the actions happened one after another in the past and
are enumerated in the same succession, the simple past is used, not the past
perfect. For example:
She packed her suitcase, put her ticket, passport, and money
into her handbag, and called a taxi.
PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS
Form: HAD + BEEN + Present Participle (e.g. doing, driving, etc.)
Meaning: 1. The action (past perfect continuous)
lasted for some time before another action in the past happened (simple past).
2. The action lasted for some time before a specific point of time in the past.
Adverbs of time: by the time; before; after; when (in
the meaning "by the time"); + for two hours; for a long time.
By the time he returned, I had been working for seven hours.
He had been sleeping for five hours when she came back.
The past perfect continuous tense is used mostly in
writing, for example, in literary works, in formal correspondence, and in scientific
literature. In a number of cases, the past perfect may be used instead of the
past perfect continuous, with the same adverbs of time.
By the time he returned, I had worked for seven hours.
He had lived in Chicago for ten years by the time he moved
to Boston.
I had waited for three months before they finally sent me an
answer.
Stative verbs (nonprogressive verbs) are used in the past
perfect instead of the past perfect continuous.
They had been married for twenty years when they got
divorced.