Past tense in English

We use this tense in English to talk about events or situations that are finished. Normally we use
a time reference.
For example:
"ast year ! went to "pain."
"!n #$$%& he changed his 'ob."
""he called an hour ago."
We also use the Past Simple tense in English to talk about long-lasting events or
situations in the past.
"When ! was a child& ! lived in the countryside."
To talk about repeated activities in the past, we also use the Past Simple.
"! often went to the beach as a child."
Past Continuous Tense in English (! was doing"
(here are three main uses of this tense:
#. To talk about what was happening at a particular time in the past and to give
descriptions and background in$ormation.
%. To talk about temporar& situations in the past.
3. To make polite requests.
#. Talking about what was happening at a particular time in the past.
"(his time yesterday& ! was reading a book."
We o$ten use the Past Continuous tense with the Past Simple tense. The Past
Continuous gives the background to an event in the Past Simple'
"When he got home& the children were playing in the garden." )(he children started playing in
the garden before he got home.*
"! was eating dinner when there was a knock on the door." )(he knock on the door came in the
middle of my meal.*
We can use the Past Continuous to give descriptions.
"(he girl was wearing a yellow dress. "he was eating ice+cream and was watching television."
%. Talking about temporar& situations in the past.
"When ! was living in ondon& ! often went to the theatre." )iving in ondon was temporary ,
perhaps ! only lived there for a short while.*
Compare with: "When ! was a child ! lived in the countryside." iving in the countryside was a
longer event , ! was a child for more than a couple of years. For more permanent situations,
we use the Past Simple tense.
(. )aking polite re*uests.
If we want to make polite requests, we can use the Past Continuous tense. This is
because we put a distance between ourseles and the person we are askin!.
"! was wondering if you had time to see me."
"! was hoping we could discuss a pay raise."
Past Per$ect Tense in English
The past per$ect tense is o$ten used in English when we are relating two events which
happened in the past. !t helps to show which event happened $irst.
The past per$ect is used to show &ou which o$ two events happened $irst. !magine that
two things happened in the past'
! went to see the movie.
We discussed the movie in class.
"ere, we don#t know which order the eents happened in. That ma$ be important %%
perhaps I went to see the moie after the discussion, or ma$be I saw the moie before
the discussion. There are man$ wa$s to make this sequence clear, and the past perfect is
one of them. This is how we do it:
! went to see the movie. We had discussed it in class.
"ere, we &'() that the discussion took place FI*ST %% een thou!h the sentence
describin! it comes afterwards. )e discussed the moie, and T"+' I went to see it. This
can be er$ useful when $ou are tellin! a stor$ or relatin! a sequence of eents.
,t an$ point in $our stor$, $ou can -ump .,C& to a preious eent, and $our reader will
not be confused, because the past perfect will make it clear that the eent happened
preiousl$. "ere is another e/ample:
! wanted to live in a foreign country& so ! applied for a 'ob in -apan. -udy lived in -apan& so !
called her to find out more about the culture and lifestyle there.
)-udy was probably still living in -apan when ! called her.*
! wanted to live in a foreign country& so ! applied for a 'ob in -apan. -udy had lived in -apan& so !
called her to find out more about the culture and lifestyle there.
)-udy no longer lived in -apan ++ she returned from there before ! applied for the 'ob.*
Past Per$ect Continuous Tense
)e use the Past Perfect Continuous to show that somethin! started in the past and
continued up until another time in the past. 0For fie minutes0 and 0for two weeks0 are
both durations which can be used with the Past Perfect Continuous.
'otice that this is related to the Present Perfect Continuous1 howeer, the duration does
not continue until now, it stops before somethin! else in the past.
Examples:
. (hey had been talking for over an hour before (ony arrived.
. "he had been working at that company for three years when it went out of business.
. /ow long had you been waiting to get on the bus0
. 1ike wanted to sit down because he had been standing all day at work.
. -ames had been teaching at the university for more than a year before he left for 2sia.
. 2: /ow long had you been studying (urkish before you moved to 2nkara0
3: ! had not been studying (urkish very long.
+SE % Cause o$ Something in the Past
+sing the Past Per$ect Continuous be$ore another action in the past is a good wa& to
show cause and e$$ect.
Examples:
. -ason was tired because he had been 'ogging.
. "am gained weight because he had been overeating.
. 3etty failed the final test because she had not been attending class.
Past Continuous vs. Past Per$ect Continuous
!$ &ou do not include a duration such as $or $ive minutes, $or two weeks or since
,rida&, man& English speakers choose to use the Past Continuous rather than the Past
Per$ect Continuous. -e care$ul because this can change the meaning o$ the sentence.
Past Continuous emphasi.es interrupted actions, whereas Past Per$ect Continuous
emphasi.es a duration o$ time be$ore something in the past. Stud& the e/amples below
to understand the di$$erence.
Examples:
. /e was tired because he was exercising so hard.
(his sentence emphasi4es that he was tired because he was exercising at that exact
moment.
. /e was tired because he had been exercising so hard.
This sentence emphasi.es that he was tired because he had been e/ercising over a
period o$ time. !t is possible that he was still e/ercising at that moment 01 that he had
2ust $inished.
1E)E)-E1 3on-Continuous 4erbs 5 )i/ed 4erbs
!t is important to remember that 3on-Continuous 4erbs cannot be used in an&
continuous tenses. 6lso, certain non-continuous meanings $or )i/ed 4erbs cannot be
used in continuous tenses. !nstead o$ using Past Per$ect Continuous with these verbs,
&ou must use Past Per$ect.
Examples:
. (he motorcycle had been belonging to 5eorge for years before (ina bought it. Not 6orrect
. (he motorcycle had belonged to 5eorge for years before (ina bought it. 6orrect