PAST SIMPLE
or
PAST CONTINUOUS
The Joy of Teaching
It was ten to twelve in a beautiful Autumn morning. The English teacher came into
the classroom. He was wearing a black shirt and grey trousers. He was carrying his
textbook, the registry notebook, his laptop, a big and heavy sound system. The
pupils were chatting and making a lot of noise. He was used to it. He switched on
the computer, turned on the projector, roll called 38 names and started to teach
the differences between the Past Simple and the Past Continuous. He taught how
to use the auxiliary “did” while some pupils were talking aloud about their weekend.
He heard two girls gossiping. They were making fun of his chalk stained trousers.
Then he wrote the spelling rules of –ing forms, but he saw some students were
using their mobile phones. One of them was laughing at some dumb picture on the
screen. Next, he gave the students some photocopies with exercises to be done
during the class. Five minutes later, he realised no one was doing the exercises. All
of the students were chatting, drawing on the photocopies, browsing the textbook
or even exchanging stupid notes .
Then he shot them. Each and every one.
When the police and the ambulances arrived, he was calmly explaining the Past
Continuous to a silent, peaceful class in a beautiful Autumn morning at IES ALBERO
The pupils weren’t listening. He was used to it.
The Simple Past



One morning I shot an elephant in my
pyjamas. How he got into my pyjamas I'll
never know. Groucho Marx
I never killed a man, but I read many an
obituary with a great deal of satisfaction.
I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a
nice letter saying that I approved of it.
Mark Twain
The Simple Past
We use the simple past to indicate exactly
when an action or event took place in the
past.
I visited my sister yesterday.
We went out to dinner last night.
Use

a finished action in the past


actions that follow each other in a story


My parents met in 1987. They got married
in 1992. I was born in 1996.
Mary walked into the room and stopped.
a past situation or habit

When I was a child, we lived in a small house
by the sea.
Time expressions

last night, last week, last year, last...

two days ago, 25 years ago, a long time ago…

yesterday, yesterday morning…

In 1962, in September 1996, in the 19th century…

On Monday…

At 11.30 last night…

When I was a child…
PAST SIMPLE

Verbs can be:

REGULAR:
I played tennis yesterday. My sister studied in
Harvard University. Our teacher lived in
Australia.

IRREGULAR
She ate a salad last night. My mum bought a new
car. I wore a mini skirt to the party.
If the base verb
ends in:
consonant + vowel +
consonant
and a stressed
syllable
consonant + -e
do this:
And
add
For example:
-ing
-ed
stop > stopping > stopped
begin > beginning
tap > tapping > tapped
But, for example:
open > opening > opened
(because no stress on last
syllable of open)
remove the -e
-ing
-ed
phone > phoning > phoned
dance > dancing > danced
make > making
rake > raking > raked
dye > dying > dyed
change the -ie to -y
-ing
lie > lying
die > dying
nothing
-d
lie > lied
die > died
double the final
consonant
-ie
Forming the simple past tense
(REGULAR VERBS)

We add -ED al verbo:
BOIL BOILED
FILL FILLED

WORK WORKED
WATCH WATCHED
Some exceptions:

Verbs ending in E add –D
LIVE LIVED
DATE DATED

Verbs ending in consonant + Y: -ied
TRY
CRY

DANCE DANCED
BAKE
BAKED
TRIED
CRIED
Verbs ending in CVC, double consonant.
TAP TAPPED
COMMIT COMMITTED
(RAIN RAINED)
PAST SIMPLE:
affirmative, negative or interrogative

AFFIRMATIVE:



NEGATIVE:



He painted the wall
We woke up very early
He didn’t paint the wall
We didn’t wake up very early
INTERROGATIVE:


Did Peter paint the wall?Yes, he did/No, he didn’t
Did we wake up very early? Yes, we did/No, we didn’t.
Wh- questions

Wh- + did + Subject + Verb + Comp
Where did your parents go last Saturday?
Why did your boyfriend kiss that girl?
When did you arrive home last night?
How many exams did you do last week?
Who did you see at the party?
Who saw you at the party?
Past continuous
“I wasn't kissing her, I was
whispering in her mouth.” Chico
Marx
The Past Progressive
The past progressive is used to talk about an activity
that was in progress at a specific point of time in the
past. The emphasis is on the duration of the activity
in the past.
I was studying for an exam while my mother was cooking
dinner.
We were walking in the park around 7 p.m. last night.
The Past Progressive
The past progressive is often used with the simple
past to show that one action was in progress when
another action occurred.
I was taking a bath when the doorbell rang.
They were eating dinner when the neighbors stopped by fo
a visit.
Form

Subject + Was / were + verb + -ing






They were driving to Paris.
We weren’t waiting for a long time.
What were they doing?
Our teacher was wearing a blue jacket.
My mum wasn’t sleeping when I arrived.
Why were you crying when I saw you…?
If the base verb
ends in:
consonant + vowel +
consonant
and a stressed
syllable
consonant + -e
do this:
And
add
For example:
-ing
-ed
stop > stopping > stopped
begin > beginning
tap > tapping > tapped
But, for example:
open > opening > opened
(because no stress on last
syllable of open)
remove the -e
-ing
-ed
phone > phoning > phoned
dance > dancing > danced
make > making
rake > raking > raked
dye > dying > dyed
change the -ie to -y
-ing
lie > lying
die > dying
nothing
-d
lie > lied
die > died
double the final
consonant
-ie
PAST CONTINUOUS:
affirmative, negative or interrogative

AFIRMATIVA:



NEGATIVA:



He was painting the wall
We were waking up very early
He wasn’t painting the wall
We weren’t waking up very early
INTERROGATIVA:


Was he painting the wall?
Were we waking up very early?
Use

to express activities in progress before, and
probably after, a particular time in the past


for descriptions


Lynn looked beautiful.She was wearing a green
dress. She was dressed to kill!
to express an interrupted past activity


I was sleeping when you phoned me. It was 3 a.m!!!
When the phone rang, I was having a shower.
to express an incomplete activity

I was reading a book during the flight.
PAST SIMPLE AND PAST
CONTINUOUS


WHEN + AN ACTION THAT INTERRUPTS ANOTHER
LONGER ACTION

John was watching TV when his friend arrived.

When the teacher came into the classroom, everybody was
dancing.

I was smoking when my mum entered my bedroom.
WHILE + LONGER ACTION IN THE PAST
CONTINUOUS
 While / as I was talking on the phone, the doorbell rang .

My friends arrived while my dad was sleeping a siesta. He
shouted at them!
Past simple or continuous?


Sometimes both tenses are possible. The
Past Simple focuses on past actions as
complete facts.
The Past Continuous focuses on the
duration of past activities
Compare :






A: I didn’t see you at the party last night.
B: No. I stayed at home and watched the
football match.
A: I didn’t see you at the party last night.
B: No, I was watching the football at home.
I lived in New York for two years. I met my
girlfriend there. When I was living in Manhattan I
found a job as a teacher.
My sister studied History in Cambridge
University. She met most of her friends while she
was studying there.
When you tell a story, important facts are
expressed in the Past Simple, general situation
and descriptions in the Past Continuous.
-It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and
flags were flying high everywhere. Obama felt
confident. He spoke to the people in the
stadium. They were looking at him anxiously.
- Peter saw Susan at the party. She was
wearing a beautiful blue dress. Everybody was
dancing and having a good time.
An old pirate was sitting in the bar. He was smoking
a pipe and drinking a glass of rum. He was wearing
an eye patch and he had a parrot on his shoulder
and a wooden leg. Instead of his right hand he had a
metal hook. A young sailor was chatting with the pirate
and he asked him about his adventures at sea.
‘So, how did you lose your leg?’, the young man asked the pirate.
‘Arrr! ,’ said the pirate, ‘You see, some sharks were circling the ship
when I fell overboard. Luckily, my men pulled me back onto the ship
before the sharks ate me completely, but one of the sharks got
my leg.’
‘And how about the hook on your hand? How did you lose your
hand?’
‘I was boarding a ship when another sailor cut off my hand with
a sword.’
‘That’s amazing! What a life full of adventures!’ said the young
man. ‘And how about your eye? How did you lose that?’
‘I was eating a grapefruit when the juice went into my eye.’
‘But I don’t understand. How did you lose your eye from the
grapefruit juice?’
‘Arrr!’ said the pirate, ‘it was
my first day with the new
hook.’
A SPOOKY STORY
It was just before midnight on October 31st
last year. Susan Lee was driving home after
visiting her sister. The road was clear and
she was driving carefully. Suddenly, out of nowhere,a young
man stepped out in front of her. He was wearing a dark
coloured raincoat and carrying a backpack. Susan stepped hard
on the brake pedal but it was too late. She got out of the car
but, to her surprise, there was nobody there. While she was
looking under the car, she felt a cold wind on her face and a
strange presence that sent shivers down her spine.
She was still looking under her car when a lorry stopped behind
her. The lorry driver, a middle-aged man, walked up to her and
asked her if she needed help to start her car so she told him
what had happened. He didn’t seem surprised when Susan told
him about the young man. 'In October 1978, there was a car
accident on this road and a
hitchhiker was fatally run over.
You're not the first to have seen his
ghost here', he said in a mysterious
tone.