Simple Past and
Past Continuous
Simple Past Tense
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Actions, events, states that started and
finished in the past (…ago, last …,
yesterday… )
Regular verbs: -ed
Irregular verbs: 2nd column
Tell your partner – use past
simple
What did you do yesterday?
 What did you do Friday night?
 Where were you Saturday morning?
 How did you do celebrate your last
birthday?
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Practice:
Do you have a good memory?
Are you a good witness?
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Directions: Look at the following picture
for one minute. Try to remember as many
details as you can, but don’t write
anything.
Only one minute…
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Ready, go ….
One minute…
What do you remember?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
How many people were there?
Where were the people?
What was hanging from the ceiling?
What was the bank robber holding?
What was the bank robber wearing?
What colour was his hair?
What was covering the bank robber’s face?
Was the bank robber right-handed or left-handed?
What was the bank manager doing?
What was the bank teller doing?
Who was walking into the bank?
What time was it?
What was under the bank manager’s desk?
One minute…
Past continuous
Gebruik 1) Om te beschrijven wat bezig
was in “het verleden”
What were you doing at 9 in the evening?
 I was watching TV
 We were playing Monopoly
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Past continuous
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I
You
He
was
were
was
She
It
We
You
They
was
was
were
were
were
ww + ing
Tell a classmate – use past
continuous verbs: I was _______ing
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Where were you last Thursday at 8 p.m.? What
were you doing?
What were you doing Friday at 5 p.m.? Where
were you? Who were you with?
What were you doing Sunday morning at 7
a.m.?
What were you doing last night at nine o’clock?
What were you doing last Saturday afternoon?
Past Continuous, continued
Gebruik 2) Twee bezigheden tegelijkertijd
Sorry, I wasn’t listening to you while you
were talking.
 While I was reading, he was writing.
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Simple past met past continuous in
één zin, gebruik 3
past continuous geeft aan
wat bezig was
I was crossing the street
…when the driver ran
through the red light.
Past simple geeft aan de actie
die de handeling onderbreekt
Other examples:
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I was sleeping when the telephone rang
and woke me up.
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He was driving too fast when he crashed
the car.
More Examples:
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We were watching the news when the
announcer made a special live report.
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I was trying to study when you called.
Form of Past Continuous
Subject + was / were + verb+ing
Negation:
Subject + was / were + not + verb+ing
Yes/ No Question:
Was / Were + subject + + verb+ing ?
Information Question:
(WH) + Was / Were + subject + + verb+ing ?
Remember –ing spelling rules?
Verb ending in...
(Most verbs)
1 vowel + 1 consonant
1 vowel + 1 consonant + E
Final –ie
How to make the -ING form
Add -ING
Double the consonant, then add -ING
Examples
say - saying
go - going
walk - walking
swim - swimming
hit - hitting
get - getting
Remove E, then add –ING
come - coming
lose - losing
live – living
Change –ie to y, then add -ING
die – dying
tie -- tying
A little practice
The telephone (ring) when I (take a shower).
The telephone rang when I was taking a shower.
I (eat) dinner when you (come) in.
I was eating dinner when you came in.
It (rain) while they (walk) home.
It was raining while they were walking home.
We (see) an accident when we (drive) on the freeway.
We saw an accident when we were driving on the
freeway.
A little practice 2
She (chop) onions when she (cut) her finger.
.She was chopping onions when she cut her finger
We (watch) TV when the electricity (go) out.
We were watching TV when the electricity went out.
My dad (do) the dishes while my mum (send) an email.
My dad was doing the dishes while my mum was
sending an email.
Final Tips …
Use while for two actions in progress at the same
time in the past: Gelijktijdigheid
 She was talking while he was driving.
Use when for an action that was in progress that
was interrupted by another event in the past):
 I was just leaving when you called.
(handeling bezig)
(“storing”)
Punctuation
with When and While
When and while at the front of a sentence, use a
comma:
When you called, I was watching TV.
While he was washing the clothes, I was doing the
dishes.
 When and while in the middle of a sentence, no
comma
I was watching TV when you called.
I was doing the dishes while he was washing the
clothes.
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