Past Tenses

Relationship of
Past Events/Actions
to Each Other
 Past Tenses

Past Tenses -
Examples
__
3 Simple Past 1) When I arrived, they were
talking
about me.
1
__ Past Continuous 2) When I arrived, they had
been
4
talking about me for an hour.
__ Past Perfect 3) When I arrived, they talked
2 about
me.
__ Past Perfect 4) When I arrived, they had
 Past Tenses

Past Tenses -
Formulas
__
3 Simple Past 1) had been + vb-ing

__
2 Past 2) was/were + vb-ing
Continuous
__
4 Past Perfect 3) verb + ed (*regular verbs)

__
1 Past Perfect 4) had + past participle
Continuous
 Past Tenses

COMPAR
E
Simple Past (verb + ed )

When I arrived, they talked about me..

Past Continuous (was/were + present participle )

When I arrived, they were talking about me..

(They started talking about me before I arrived. When I
arrived, they were still talking about me.)
 Past Tenses

Complete the sentences with the simple past or the past

continuous.
was
1) My mother _______________ (cook) something when I
walked into thecooking
room. The smell of the food was
wonderful. cooke
2) My mother _______________ (cook) something when I
d
walked into the room. She said she was waiting for me to
help her decide what she would make for dinner.
almost (have, almost) a car accident last
3) I _______________
night. was had
I _______________ (drive) down Washington Avenue
when suddenly saw
driving I _______________ (see) a car in my lane. It
was
_______________ steppe
(come) right at my car. I _______________
coming
(step) swerve
on the brakes and _______________ d
(swerve) to the
right. The other car just d
_______________ (miss, just) my car at
about an inch. missed
 Past Tenses

COMPAR
E
Simple Past (verb + ed )
Action 2 occurring right after action 1.
When I arrived, they talked about me..
(First, I arrived. Then they started talking about me.)

Past Perfect (had + past participle )

Action 2 occurring before action 1.

When I arrived, they had talked about me..

(They started and finished talking about me before I
arrived. I didnt see them talking about me.)
 Past Tenses

Complete the sentences with the simple past or the past

perfect.
cooke
1) My mother _______________ (cook) something when I
d
walked into the room. She said she was waiting for me to
help her decide what she would make for dinner.
had
2) My mother _______________ (cook) something when I
cooked
walked into the room. The food was waiting for me on the
table.
had
3) He _______________ (be) a newspaper reporter before he
been
becam
_______________ (become) a businessman.
e
fel
4) I _______________ (feel) a little better after I
hadtookt
_______________ (take) the medicine.
taken
 Past Tenses

COMPAR
E
Past Perfect (had + past participle )
Action 2 occurring before action 1.
When I arrived, they had talked about me..
(They started and finished talking about me before I
arrived. I didnt see them talking about me.)

Past Perfect Continuous (had been + present

participle )
Action 2 occurring during some time before action 1.
When I arrived, they had been talking about me for one
hour..
(They were talking about me for one hour. Then I
arrived. I didnt see them talking about me for that first
 Past Tenses
Complete the sentences with the past perfect or the past
perfect continuous.
1) My mother _______________
had (cook) something when I
walked into thecooked
room. The food was waiting for me on the
table.
2) My motherhad had
been
cooked (cook) something for more
_______________
than one hourcooking
when I walked in the room. She was
already exhausted, so I helped her finish preparing the
food.
3) My motherhadhadbeen
cooked (cook) something for more
_______________
than one hourcooking
when I walked in the room. She was
exhausted, but the dish looked wonderful!
had
4) Michael _______________ (work) as a lawyer before he
worked
became a singer. had
In fact, he had
been
worked (work) in that
_______________
company for more than 10working
years.
 Past Tenses
COMPARE ALL THE PAST
TENSES
Simple Past (verb + ed )
Action 2 When I arrived, they talked
occurring right after action 1. about me..

Past Continuous
(was/were + present When I arrived, they were
participle ) Action 2 talking about me..
continuing at the same time
as action 1.
Past Perfect
(had + past participle ) When I arrived, they had talked
Action 2 occurring before about me..
action 1.

Past Perfect Continuous

(had been + present When I arrived, they had been
participle ) Action 2 talking about me for one hour..
occurring during some time
 Past Tenses

Match the pictures with their corresponding sentences.

When Ellen arrived home,

c a
Mark cooked dinner.

a When Ellen arrived home,

b
Mark was cooking dinner.

b When Ellen arrived home,

c
Mark had cooked dinner.
 Past Tenses
Complete the sentences with the BEST past tense.

had already
1) I was late. The teacher ____________________ (already
gogiven
/give) a quiz when I ____________________ (get) to class.
t
were still
2) The kids ____________________ (still / sleep) when their
calle sleeping
father _______________ (call). And I didnt want to wake
them up, sod they didnt talk to him.
3) My mother ____________________
slep (sleep) when I
____________________
arrived (arrive)
t home. She was always anxious
about what could happen to me. As for my father, he
didnt seem to worry. When I arrived home from parties,
he ____________________
had already (already / go) to bed.
gone
4) I ____________________
had
hadstudied
been (study) English for almost 2 years
when I first____________________
studying
traveled (travel) abroad.
Past Tenses

The
End !!!!!!