Simple Past Tense

Past Continuous Tense

Past Perfect Tense

By:
WAN NUR AFIFAH WAN JUSOH
901110-11-5174
SEM 1 / 2010
PISMP KS
 Past Continuous Tense

Express an activity that was in

progress, was happening at point
of time in the past or at the time
of another action
 OH MY FRIENDS...
REMEMBER THIS!
Construction: was/were + present participle
Passive: was/were + being + present participle
 Past continuous is typically used for an activity
that was ongoing at a certain point in the past

What were you doing when the alarm bell rang?.

I was serving dinner when Mum phoned.
This time last week I was basking in the sun on a
Cretan Beach.
Where was I on 10 November? Oh yes, I was
paying a visit to Taiwan.
An activity that was interrupted by a certain happening
in the simple past is in the past continuous

I was doing a tricky job on my computer when a

power cut destroyed all my data.
We were just approaching the summit when
there was a blinding flash of lighting.
I was wondering how to deal with the problem
when an idea suck me.
The past continuous is used to indicate the situation that
was ongoing when a certain single action took place

I was only joking when I said that.

He noticed that she was smiling to herself.
I realized he was lying.
I glanced at Susan, who was trying not to laugh.
The telephone rang just as the meal
was being served.
In some cases only the ongoing situation is mentioned

Hey! I was only teasing!

You werent listening, were you?
A dog was barking somewhere along the street.
Verb that represent gradual change in a past context are
often in the past continuous

The situation was getting ridiculous.

The children were growing fast.
Repeated activity in the past can be expressed by using
forever or always with the past continuous; this is often
an expression of exasperation:

Harry was forever breaking the law and being

arrested on some charge or other.
Mr. Right was always correcting peoples
grammar, usually misguidedly.
I was forever lending him money - which I never
got back.
 People often use the past continuous instead of the
simple past to avoid sounding direct and definite.

Tom and I were talking (rather than talked) about

you last night.
I was discussing (rather than discussed) this
problem earlier today with mum.
John was mentioning (rather than mentioned)
your name to me this morning.
 LANGUAGE HELP

People often make tentative offers or

requests using
I was wondering
Example: I was wondering if you were free to have
dinner with me this evening?.
 EXERCISE 1;
In the paragraph given, find the
simple past and past continuous
 EXERCISE

My alarm on my clock went off shrilly at

seven oclock yesterday morning and I woke
with a start. I bought that alarm clock at Dubai
airport twelve years ago it has accompanied
me on many journeys and has always been
reliable.
Anyway, I leapt out of bed, had a shower,
made myself a cup of coffee, ate a bowl of
cereal, took the lift to the ground floor, rushed
along to the underground station, and stopped
to buy a news paper. The newsvendor, who was
 EXERCISE

a woman, greeted me cheerfully as I handed

her the money. Then I took the elevator down
to platform down to platform 5 and caught a
train for Fulham. Twenty minutes later I arrived
t my place of work, Ambrosia Publishing.
I worked for a marketing firm for four
years; Ive worked for nearly a year now with
Ambrosia. Previously I lived on the outskirts of
town, and had a long way to travel to work, but
Ive moved to more convenient flat in the
centre of town.
 EXERCISE

By eight-thirty I was sitting at my computer. I

was just checking a piece of text when my boss
walked over to my desk. Then he realized that I
was trying to work something out. sorry, he
said. you were concentrating.
My boss in my last job was forever doing
things like that he was always interrupting my
work and spoiling my concentration on some
trivial pretext. Things were evidently turning in
the same direction in my new job.
 EXERCISE

I was wondering, he said, if I could ask you a

favour. He then said he had some work that had
to be done urgently, and asked me if I could stay
Late and help him, if I wasnt going anywhere or
doing anything in particular. As it happened I
was going to a film with my boyfriend, but that
wasnt till eight, so I agreed to work till seven.
Here is how the past perfect is formed :
Subject had Past participle
We had decided
Affirmative :
She had given.
Negative:
We hadn't asked.
 Here is how the past perfect is formed :

had Subject Past participle

Interrogative:
Had they arrived?
Interrogative negative:
Hadn't you finished?
 I ate a big breakfast. I went to school. Now

7:30am 8:00am

What happened first? What happened second?

First : I ate breakfast.
Second : I went to school.
Answer : I had eaten a big breakfast before I went
to school.
Usage Examples
1. To show an action that took By the time we reached the
place at a station, the bus had gone.
in the past. By 1966 Oprah had decided
on a career.
They had shifted out before
their house were sold.
Usage Examples
2. To express If I had known the truth, I
or about a would have apologized.
This is expressed If we had trained hard, we
with a would have won the game.
that contain if. If we had gone to the
dinner, we would have met
our old friends.
Usage Examples
3. To show that John had gone out when I
had taken place arrived in the office.
before I had saved my document
took place. before the computer
crashed.
The maid had left before
her employer returned.
Usage Examples
4. 'Just' is used with the past The train had just left
perfect to when I arrived at the
that was only a short time station.
now She had just left the room
when the police arrived
I had just put the washing
out when it started to rain.
Usage Examples
1. In some cases I had completed (or
with the I completed) my
after the time project I was able to take a
conjunctions short rest.
we had unpacked (or
and we unpacked) we
. explored the town.
we had made
(or we made)
contact with the
kidnappers, we alerted the
police.
 Rules to Remember!
1. The words already and just go between and the
past participle.

Example: When Professor Lee retired, he

at Beijing University for 32 years.

2. The negative of the is formed by putting

not between and the past participle. The word
still is often used with the negative form of the

Example: By the end of the book, I still

what the authors opinion was.
1. Grammar Express For Self-Study and Classroom
Use
Written by : Marjorie Fuchs & Margeret
Bonner
Company : Longman
2. Focus on Grammar Workbook 1
Written by : Anne Seaton & Betty Kirkpatrik
Company : Learners Publishing