PAST

SIMPLE
shows us that an action was in the pastPast simple
We use the past simple to describe: -

- finished actions in the past:

- finished actions over periods of time in the past: -
"I studied for an exam."
- habits in the past:
- past facts: -
"I studied for four years."
-
"I studied every night when I was at school."
-
"I studied history at university."
 To
B
e
-
To be (special)
-
She / He /it / I = was
-
They/ you /We = wereAffirmative
-
She was a doctor, she worked in the hospital
-
She wasn’t (was not) a doctor, she worked in the hospital as a secretary
-
Was she a doctor?
 W
it
h
-
Irregular and regular verbs ot
-
Catch = caught book= booked he
r
-
Antonia caught the ball using her hands
ve
-
Negatives sentences = Auxiliary did not
rb /. didn’t do=did I
did my homework / I didn’t do my homework
s
-
Antonia didn’t catch the ball
-
Did Antonia catch the ball?
 PAST
CONTINUOUS "I was studying for an exam all night."
"At 11am, I was visiting my grandmother."

We use the past continuous:

-
to emphasise the continuous
nature of a finished action in the
past:
-
to describe a continuous action
that was in progress at a
particular time:
We do not use the past continuous
for habits in the past: not "I was
taking the bus to school."
PAST
CONTINUOUS "She read the newspaper while I was doing the
gardening."
or
We use "while" with the past continuous to
"While I was doing the gardening, she read the
describe a continuous action that was in newspaper."
progress at the same time as another action,
using either the past simple or past
continuous:
PAST
SIMPLE "I went downstairs when I heard the doorbell." or
"When I heard the doorbell, I went downstairs."

"when" and past simple

We use "when" with the past

simple to describe two actions
where one action is the result of
another action, or happens
immediately after:
PAST SIMPLE/
CONTINUOUS "I was studying history at university when I learnt
to play the saxophone.”
We use "when" with the past "I was going downstairs when I heard the
continuous and past simple:
doorbell." or "When I heard the doorbell, I was
-
to describe an action that was in going downstairs.""
progress (using past continuous)
when another action happened
(using past simple):
-

-
to describe a continuous action
that was already in progress
(using past continuous) and was
interrupted by a shorter action
(using past simple):
When we use these two tenses together, it shows us that the past simple action happened in the middle of the past continuous action, while it was in progress.
We often use these tenses to show an action interrupting another action