Use of the Simple Past and Past Continuous in Writing

1. Put the following verbs into the simple past

Thomas __lived___ (live) in the small town of Brington. He _______
(love) walking through the beautiful forest that surrounded it. One
evening, he ____ (take) his umbrella and _____ (go) for a walk in the
woods. He ______ (meet) an old man named Frank. Frank _______
(tell) Thomas that if he _____ (want) to become rich, he should invest in a little known stock
called Microsoft. Thomas ______ (think) Frank _____ (be) foolish because Microsoft ____
(be) a computer stock. Everybody _____ (know) that computers _____ (be) just a passing
fad. At any rate, Frank _______ (insist) that Thomas _____ (be) wrong. Frank _______
(draw) a wonderful graph of future possibilities. Thomas ______ (begin) thinking that maybe
Frank ______ (understand) stocks. Thomas _______ (decide) to buy some of these stocks.
The next day, he ______ (go) to the stock broker's and _____ (buy) $1,000 worth of Microsoft
stock. That _____ (be) in 1986; today that $1,000 worth of stock is worth more than
$250,000!
The part about the Microsoft stock is true!!
2. Insert the following past continuous (progressive) fragments into the story above.
Write a letter where you would put each fragment.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.

As Frank was drawing the graph, ...

While he was walking to work,
It was raining so...
While they were discussing the stock, ...
When he was returning from his walk, ...
As he was walking through the woods,

3. Written/spoken follow-up.
Write an outline of an important day in your life. Make notes in the
past simple on the most important events that occurred. Then add
a description of what was happening at some of the specific
moments: use the past continuous). Then tell your partner (or
group members) the story. Hint: you can "embellish" your story (add
a few parts that are not true!). The "story map" on the next page may
help you make an outline.
Source: http://esl.about.com/library/lessons/nblpastcont.htm

STORY MAP
Title: _____________________________________________________

Setting (where/when): _______________________________________________________

Characters (who?): _________________________________________________________

(Problem: ________________________________________________________________)
(not all stories have a problem, but many do)

Event 1 ___________________________________________________________________
Event 2 ___________________________________________________________________
Event 3 ___________________________________________________________________
Event 4 ___________________________________________________________________
Event 5 ___________________________________________________________________
Event 6 ___________________________________________________________________
Event 7 ___________________________________________________________________
Event 8 ___________________________________________________________________
Event 8 ___________________________________________________________________
Event 9 ___________________________________________________________________
Event 10 __________________________________________________________________
(you may not need all 10!)

Outcome/Result: ___________________________________________________________

NARRATIVE ESSAY

_____________________
Name

Write 200+ words in 45 minutes on an important day in your life (e.g. "The
best/worst/scariest/most important day"). Use at least 3 paragraphs (a. an introduction can
set the scene or begin your story directly b. one or more paragraph(s) for different
times/events in your story c. a conclusion/resolution/result). Use your story map to help you.
You should use mostly simple past but can sometimes add more details (and words!) with
the past continuous/progress (as/while/when + subject + was/were + verb + ing). You can
also, rarely, use the past perfect (had + past participle) when you write about two events in
the past.
Title:
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Use of the Past Continuous in Writing (key)

1. Put the following verbs into the simple past
Thomas _lived______ (live) in the small town of Brington. He
_loved______ (love) walking through the beautiful forest that
surrounded it. One evening, c it was raining, so he _took___ (take)
his umbrella and _went____ (go) for a walk in the woods. F - As he
was walking through the woods, he __met____ (meet) an old man named Frank. Frank
_told______ (tell) Thomas that if he _wanted____ (want) to become rich, he should invest in
a little known stock called Microsoft. E When Thomas was returning from his walk, he
_thought_____ (think) Frank __was___ (be) foolish because Microsoft _was___ (be) a
computer stock. Everybody _knew____ (know) that computers _were____ (be) just a passing
fad. At any rate, Frank _insisted______ (insist) that Thomas __was___ (be) wrong. D While
they were discussing the stock, Frank _drew______ (draw) a wonderful graph of future
possibilities. A As Frank was drawing the graph, Thomas __began____ (begin) thinking
that maybe Frank _understood_____ (understand) stocks. B While he was walking to work,
Thomas _decided______ (decide) to buy some of these stocks. The next day, he
_went_____ (go) to the stock broker's and _bought ____ (buy) $1,000 worth of Microsoft
stock. That _was____ (be) in 1986; today that $1,000 worth of stock is worth more than
$250,000!
208 words (166 without additions. Adding words adds nice descriptive details, increases your word count to the
required number, and raises your band because you've showed you can use another verb tense. Using only the
simple past is a little boring.)

2. Insert the following past continuous (progressive) fragments into the story above.
Write a letter where you would put each fragment.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.

As Frank was drawing the graph, ...

While he was walking to work,
It was raining so...
While they were discussing the stock, ...
When he was returning from his walk, ...
As he was walking through the woods,

3. Suggestion: before Ss write their own story, tell them an exciting one yourself and walk
through the story map with them after they've listened.