past continuous and past simple examples

Past Continuous Uses 1. Active and passive voice of past continuous tense (negative sentences) Examples: Active: Monu was not doing the assignment. Here Tenses made easy explains the present, past and future tense in simple English. It's similar to the verb 'start'. "While" followed by simple past/past continuous Please visit using a browser with javascript enabled. Submitted by Claire Rabbit on Mon, 01/08/2022 - 02:50, In reply to HiBetterAdam, For example: She is continuing to work on the problem. Passive: Football was not being played by him. Past Continuous Tense: Pengertian, Rumus, Contoh Kalimat - Wordsmile.com Use the Past Simple and Past Simple Continuous in the questions. The past continuous shows us that the action was already in progress at a certain time in the past. The salesperson _______ them while they _______ dinner. Download this free English lesson with exercises! It .continued .to rain while I was driving.home. Could you justfy your choice? The past continuous tense is a bit more complicated and can describe multiple things, including conditions in the past. Past continuous and past simple speaking Examples from our community 10000+ results for 'past continuous and past simple speaking' Simple past - regular and irregular verbs Quiz by Nataliapisettas any age English Past Simple Past Cont Random cards by Okonikevich Past Continuous SIMPLE PAST with TEENS Hangman by Linosa She was drinking coffee when I called. Exercise 1.0. She was working. We were standing by the side of the road. The police didn't find anything important in this area. You could use simple forms here (it overtook it came) but this would describe a sequence as if the person speaking is watching with some detachment, whereas the progressive forms give a sense of the speaker describing events as they happen, making it much more dramatic and engaging. She was doing her homework. For example, if I have lost my phone, I look for it for some time (= I don't know where it is), and then I find it (= now I know where it is). 4. I'm wondering if we by Alicelle. With simple past, to tell about an activity which was interrupted or stopped by another action. When we were returning home from the garage, it started raining. These are the basics! for example: stop---->stopping or begin----->beginning, Submitted by Peter M. on Fri, 21/01/2022 - 08:11, In reply to Hi everybody, I have a by nouhaila. 3: She.. (be) in London last week. Submitted by nouhaila on Fri, 21/01/2022 - 01:44, Hi everybody, I have a question why the gerund of the verb develop is developing not developping, why we do not follow the rule of CVC which says when we have a consonant+vowel+consonant we have to double the last letter of the word. Students will be making a song alongside in the past simple and non-stop very quickly. In theory, yes, the past simple is possible for a situation like this. Past Continuous Tense Overview & Examples | What is Past Continuous We were watching television when the power went off. Exercise: Choose the correct form of the verb and complete the sentences: Exercise: Read each sentence carefully and use the correct form of verb as per the signal words, to complete the sentences. ( 1 st form + ing). While it's true that we often explain sentences such as this one as examples of one action (past simple) interrupting another action (past continuous), this can be misleading if taken literally. 4: The cat.. (be) on the roof. I was sleeping when you called me. It had been neighing since morning. 10 Examples Of Past Perfect Continuous Tense | English Summary when + short action (Past Simple) while + long action (Past Continuous) There are four basic combinations: Notice that the long action and short action are relative. Thank you! Passive voice. When John came home, his little brother TV. I'm wondering if we can use "while" before the simple past tense. And what happens if I switch the sentence in this form: This would be again interrupted or parallel? I want to ask some by nunu22. Thank you! by Claire Rabbit. Hi there. wake woke, break broke, feel felt). Submitted by Jonathan R on Fri, 06/05/2022 - 05:47, In reply to Hello, Submitted by Kirk on Tue, 11/01/2022 - 07:42, In reply to Hello I have a question by marcel16. (to play) 4. Given below is an account of a day in some time in the past. Simple past and past continuous - Home of English Grammar She couldn't come to the party. They were playing football in that field. Please help. listening was I modifier. Songs For Past Continuous Tense playlist. Submitted by Peter M. on Mon, 28/02/2022 - 07:41, In reply to HelloI have a doubt about by ShinYunn. 5. Hi, great information :) I just have a doubt in this sentence: (This is necessary to be interrupted action? Past Continuous Tense - Examples, Rules and Exercise I was needing to find a job. they broke the window at 10pm last night and that window breaking was noisy? We use it to focus on the duration of the action. He was studying in the library. We _________ research for a school project when the internet _________ down. I want to ask why in this sentence can't conjugate simple past tense (to go) 2. It goes like that: Instead, rules develop organically through use and this inevitably leads to exceptions and inconsistencies. "Exploded" took milliseconds. Suite 105Aventura, FL 33180United States+1 (305) 260 6191 +1 (305) 417 3615, 2448 Sand Lake RoadOrlando, Fl 32809United States+1 (407) 442 1278 +1 (305) 417 3615, 7601 North Federal HighwaySuite B-255 Boca Raton, FL 33487 United States(561) 325 8342 +1 (305) 417 3615, 7700 N Kendall Dr Suite 303 Orlando, Fl 32835 United States +1 (786) 800 3469 +1 (305) 417-3615, 602 East 300 South Salt Lake City, UT 84102 United States +1 (385) 500 4333 +1 (305) 417-3615, 1911 N. Fort Myer Drive, Suite 400 Arlington, VA 22209 United States+1 (703) 527 7888 +1 (305) 417 3615, document.getElementById('copyright-current-year').appendChild(document.createTextNode(new Date().getFullYear())) Language On Schools. 4. I came to school, I poured a cup of coffee, and I sat down. We make the past continuous with was or were and the -ing form of the verb. To form the past continuous positive, use subject + (to be) + verb + -ing Examples: "What were you doing when I called you?" "I was studying." She was playing guitar at the party. If When was before We were watching TV, I knew that means power off happened in the by . 3. Past Continuous and Past Simple examples in Songs! - YouTube Any temporary action, and/or an incomplete action happening in the past is expressed in the past continuous tense. Past Tense: Simple, Continuous, Perfect & Perfect Continuous &,Examples As I spoke, the children were laughing at my cleverness. See the locations of our english language schools in the United States. Check Your Understanding of the Past Continuous Tense. Submitted by MarkSEnglish on Wed, 26/10/2022 - 19:20. Submitted by isidro1255 on Tue, 16/11/2021 - 05:53, I was studying when my dad called me for dinner, Submitted by Anara SN on Sat, 13/11/2021 - 20:25. When we use it in a context like the weather we generally use the simple form. See More: Past Continuous Tense - English Grammar Tenses Simple Past vs Past Continuous Exercise Exercises 1: I.. (be) hungry. Order of events can sometimes be shown with words like when, before, after, then, and first, second, third etc. I was attending a lecture at 2.30 yesterday afternoon. They were talking about the following match. Use thePast Simple andPast Continuousverb tenses as much as possible. Past Continuous Tense Examples - BYJUS She was walking down the street when she suddenly met her friend John. I went to a Chinese restaurant yesterday. Your second example is a narrative where the speaker is describing events as he or she sees them. Formula, Structure, and Rules for past continuous tense Active and passive voice Examples: Active: He was playing football. The past continuous is usually used to refer to events happening at the same time that something important happened in the past. Submitted by Kirk on Mon, 02/05/2022 - 14:24, In reply to Excercise 1 When we saw the by DeepMS. Active: They were not helping us. "Find" and "discover" happen at the end of searching. Every time you talk about something that happened in the past, about a memory, or the reason why you did something you are telling a story. Past simple vs. past continuous - Grammar - BusinessEnglish.com Jack was studying while Dave was cooking dinner. I met my old friend while I was drinking coffee in a cafe. We know that "We were watching TV" started before the power cut because of the verb tense (past continuous). In this sentence the shop is closed at the moment I arrive, almost as if the shopkeeper saw me coming and decided to close because he or she didn't like me! And in this sentence were these two instances happening at the same time? Passive: Was football being played by him? The past continuous is formed from the past tense of "to be" with the base of the main verb plus the ending "-ing" form of the verb. Subject + Verb + ed OR Irregular Past Form + Objects. What were you doing at 8 p.m. last night? reading was He, She, It happily. Tom was writing a letter to Sarah a . We generally don't comment on what other sites or authors produce as our role is to provide help for learners directly and not to review other people's work. Past continuous | LearnEnglish Will the kind of the sentence meaning change? After a while, the rain stopped and Sadhana went home with her mother. 1. Yesterday at this time, I was sitting at my desk at work. 2. I was eating them before she arrived, could still be eating them when she arrived, and continued eating them after she arrived. The point to be taken into consideration is that the action started in the past and the continuity of the action was also in . So, we planned to cook our favourite food. She was speaking in a strange language, so I wasn't able to understand her. To describe multiple actions happening at the same time in the past. I tried to give him some advice, but he wasn't listening. Yes, both are possible. "Walking past the car" took a few seconds. Past Continuous Tense | Grammarly Submitted by pebe on Sat, 22/10/2022 - 05:38. Submitted by Jonathan R on Wed, 31/08/2022 - 09:55, In reply to Hello Team. The past continuous is also used to express what was happening at a precise moment in the past. For example: "I remember that day well. Past Continuous Quiz Past Continuous games It's sometimes still a little bit unclear and confusing but this explanation was very helpful. Do you need to improve your English grammar? A. already closed Could you please guide me to the correct answer in the following sentence? Grammar explanation Subject + did not (doesn't) + Verb + Objects. To tell about actions which were taking place along with another action. We were waiting for the mechanic. Remember that I use V1 to indicate use of the verb in its base form. Submitted by Kirk on Mon, 06/12/2021 - 14:37, In reply to Hi, I, You, He, She, We, They > didn't go on vacation last summer. If John's father is angry following John's bad marks then 'when' is needed in place of while': When John scored very low marks in the exam, his father became very angry. I was taught that when you want to combine the past continuous and the past simple, you should use "when" before the past simple and "while" before the past continuous. You could also say 'had already closed', which would indicate it closed before you arrived, but of course that's not the grammar point being covered on this page. Using "while" with "had the accident" is grammatically possible, but personally I wouldn't use it because "had the accident" is probably a short and instantaneous action. Order of events can sometimes be shown with words like when, before, after, then, and first, second, third etc. When it started to rain, I was walking on the beach. The past simple describes actions that happened in a specific moment in the past. The past continuous is usually used to refer to events happening at the same time that something important happened in the past. V2: verb-second (V2) is the simple past form (past tense) of verb tenses. We make the question form with did and then the subject and infinitive verb. 2. Past Simple Tense in English: Explained with Examples I _______ in line when they ________ that the tickets for the movie had sold out. I have a doubt about past simple and past continuous. Active: Was he playing football? Due to the fact, that they allow us to describe actions or past events in history. Could you please help me choose the correct answer? My television wasn't working properly. First lets review some of the signal words that may indicate use of the simple past. The action may or may not have continued up to the moment we are talking about it. On the other hand, the past continuous describes actions that were in progress in the past. That's right, the power cut happened in the middle of watching TV. Correct Answer is was "answering it straight away" not "answered". The past continuous is often used together with the simple past to show that one thing happened while another thing was in progress: Difference between the simple past and past continuous. LearnEnglish Kids for children aged 5 to 12, LearnEnglish Teens for children aged 13 to 17, TeachingEnglish for teachers and teacher educators. Was / Were + Object + being + verb3 (past participle) ? They were playing basketball after school. "Watching TV" took two hours. 2. Submitted by Alicelle on Fri, 06/05/2022 - 02:57. Do you know how to use the past continuous and past simple? Please follow the list about Structure of Past Continuous Tense; The tenses simply show the time of an action. Active: We were not recording the video. I didn't use my phone while we were travelling. I needed to find a job. Could you please by Ahmed Imam. Submitted by Ahmed Imam on Wed, 31/08/2022 - 09:17. There was no any other context, but this: What (the policeman / to tell) us? He (to warn) us to be attentive as workers (to do) roadworks and the road (to narrow) ahead.. We to the cinema yesterday. Yes, right - both past simple and continuous can express repeated actions. She was drinking coffee in that coffee shop. Past Continuous Negative Oshin _____ (prepare) dinner. It indicates that the activity started in the past and was still in the process when a different event occurred. Look at the following rules to find out which tense to use in certain situations: Rule 1. Do this exercise to test your grammar again. I'd use past simple in both gaps but the key says that in the first gap past continuous is the only possible answer. Someone didn't do their task today. Verb: a verb is a word used to express an action. Regular past simple verbs have -ed at the end (e.g. Hello, (to buy) 6. I do agree with what you were taught, but I think of it as a general pattern rather than 100% always true. We also use the Simple Past to show order of events in the past. However, there are many words where there stress is not on the last syllable and yet we double the consonant. Take this example: Ram began waiting for me at 9am. 1. 65 Examples Of Past Continuous Tense | English Finders At 5:30 last night, we were driving home. For example, When I was walking yesterday, it started raining. Without any further context it's not possible to say whether either is preferable. Simple Past and Past Continuous - Effective English for Teachers The actions of ringing someone and picking up the phone are fairly discrete actions, which are usually best expressed with the past simple. While I was studying, I suddenly felt sleepy. 3. Sheela _____ (play) the lead role in the skit. She wasn't watching the movie. Unlike some languages such as German, English does not have a central authority for spelling and grammar rules. Contrast the use between Past Simple and Past Continuous - UNAM We make the negative with didn't and the infinitive verb. one long + one long action e.g. Rina was giving me some food. 2. She was bringing some ice-cream for us to eat. She was believing that he loved her. For example, "she began laughing" is the past simple because the main verb is the past form of "begin.". It was raining heavily. As well as the changes happened with the road because of workers were temporary and thus I needed to write verbs in the Past Continuous. Signal Words when as long as while yesterday. Continue is not a stative verb but it can describe situations as well as actions. The platform marked my answers as incorrect. dancing were You, We, They to music. In this case I can tell you that the last two should be continuous and simple, respectively. Irregular verbs have a different form, usually with a different vowel sound (e.g. You can put a question word at the beginning: Be careful! ", Submitted by Peter M. on Mon, 16/05/2022 - 07:07, In reply to Mr. Jonathan, She spoke in a strange language, so I wasn't able to understand her. At that moment, I saw Alex and fell in love." Point out how the past continuous is used to paint a picture of the scene. British Council I was eating breakfast at 7:00. Please set this to off if you wish to block non-necessary Cookies when you visit this website. Beare, Kenneth. The main point is that one action was in progress (past continuous) and another action occurs with the first one or for some period of time during the first one. There is a sentence in by pebe. For example, "The sun was shining when we left the house". Tense: a tense is a time reference of action. Submitted by Jonathan R on Sat, 22/10/2022 - 05:57, In reply to Hi! Subject + did not (didn't) + Verb + Objects. I wasn't, You weren't, He wasn't, She wasn't, We weren't, You weren't, They weren't > working when he came into the room. I need to complete it with past simple or past continuous. I want to ask by Agness. ______________________________________, 2. subject + past tense form of verb to be + base verb+ing, subject+ past tense form of verb to be + not + base verb + ing, Past tense form of verb to be + subject + base verb + ing + Question tag, At the end of this chapter, all learners will be able to. These are just a few more examples. In the first example sentence, with "was going", it would mean that you left your parents while you were going, as in, you left after you had already left. After I talked to Mike, I went to the beach. called, played, arrived). The past continuous is made from the past tense of the verb be and the -ing form of a verb: for something which happened before and after another action: The children were doing their homework when I got home. Past Simple vs Past Continuous - Language On Schools The progressive form is generally used for activities where there is some conscious decision to not stop. I was studying. An A2 level ESL lesson plan for teaching the past simple and past continuous.It includes a suggested lead-in activity, several classroom activities, a game and a collection of specially selected ESL resources from around the web. The past continuous is formed from the past tense of "to be" with the base of the main verb plus the ending "-ing" form of the verb. These include affirmative, negative, and questions. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. (or . So come along and learn how to use past simple or past continuous to tell stories. /We felt tired of being at home. Structure of Past Continuous Tense - English Study Page I was not writing a letter. Past continuous and past simple | LearnEnglish Form of Past Continuous Tense: Positive Sentence books. In the above paragraph, we see usage of past continuous tense in various situations. Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices. Some teachers say that past simple is used to express repeated action in the past. Past Simple vs. Past Continuous - Exercise | English Grammar Online Interrogative & Double Interrogative Sentences Exercise. To turn it into the past continuous, you need to say "she was beginning to laugh" or "she was laughing.". Like we, you, they, and other plural nouns. I was using my computer. Examples of Past Perfect Continuous Tense | Learn English - learngrammar Have i overlooked. Did you wake up early this morning? Subject: in contrast with the object, the subject is the doer of the action. First I watched a movie, then I did my homework. Past simple with the verb "to be" for beginners, Past simple with regular and irregular verbs for beginners, M.A., Music Performance, Cologne University of Music, B.A., Vocal Performance, Eastman School of Music. I _____ (watch) TV when my mom came. Past continuous tense expresses the actions or task that were ongoing in the past. Choose the correct verb tense: Simple past or past continuous. The past simple with 'when' indicates that one action occurred immediately at the moment of another action, and was possibly prompted by it. Circle the mistakes and write the correct sentence. They suggest: 3. Simple Past Vs Past Continuous Teaching Resources | TPT The actions can be interrupted by something or can be happening at the same time. Past perfect continuous. English as a Second Language (ESL) Expert, Teach a Lesson About the Past Simple and Past Continuous, Activities With the Past Simple and Past Continuous. They were doing their homework when she arrived. Although both tenses speak about the past, they are used in different ways. If you are a teacher, use this guide on how to teach the past continuous tense for more help. Choose the correct past continuous and past simple forms to complete the sentences below. Submitted by rina_rinast on Thu, 20/01/2022 - 23:13. Also, this page requires javascript. I confused about this by tanapol.sh. Please refer to our regular verb list and irregular verb list to make sure that you are using each verb correctly. Yes, it is possible. - Past simple holiday questions (from NEF Pre Int 2a) Community Past simple writing Examples from our community 10000+ results for 'past simple writing' Simple Past Verbs Group sort. Alice was reading a book at six yesterday evening. I my homework for the whole evening yesterday. Affirmative Sentences Exercise. like, want, need, believe. 'while' and 'when' can often be interchanged, but again it really depends on the situation. Beare, Kenneth. I by Denys. Hello Team. One sound can be represented by several spelling combinations (tree, ceiling, thief and Peter all contain /i/, for example), and one combination of letters can be pronounced in several ways ('ough' is pronounced differently in through, though, bough, cough, enough and thorough, for example).