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Simple Past Past Continuous

The document discusses three past tenses in English: the past simple tense, the past continuous tense, and the past habitual tense (used to). It provides examples and explanations of how and when to use each tense, including notes on irregular verbs. A series of exercises follows for the reader to practice using the past tenses.

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42 views2 pages

Simple Past Past Continuous

The document discusses three past tenses in English: the past simple tense, the past continuous tense, and the past habitual tense (used to). It provides examples and explanations of how and when to use each tense, including notes on irregular verbs. A series of exercises follows for the reader to practice using the past tenses.

Uploaded by

huong ngo the
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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II.

PAST TENSES: past simple; past continuous; used to


1. Past simple
 To be: was / were
 Ordinary verbs:
+ verb2 / Verb + -ed He worked for the police.
- did + NOT + verb She didn’t work for the police.
? did … + verb … ? Did you work for the police?
*NOTE:
 many verb are irregular: went (go), came (come), wrote (write)….
 The verb “be” is irregular: I/he/she/it was; you/we/they were
Usage:
- To describe something that happened and finished in the past
Tense markers:
ago, last…, yesterday, in 1990, when I was young,…
Example:
I worked there 7 years ago.
I met her yesterday.
He went to the cinema last week.

2. Past continuous
+ was / were + verb + -ing She was watching the news.
- was / were + NOT + verb + -ing They weren’t watching the news.
? was / were … + verb + -ing … ? Were you watching the news?
Usage:
- An activity happening when another activity happened. We often use words like when, while and as.
Ex: He was doing his homework when the thief came into the house.
He was doing his homework

THE PAST NOW

the thief came into the house


- Two or more activities happening at the same time.
Ex: She was listening to music and working on her computer.
- An activity happening at a definite time / period of time in the past.

3. Used to
+ used to + infinitive She used to/ would lock the door.
- did not + use to + infinitive I didn’t use to lock the door.
? did… use to + infinitive Did they use to lock the door?
Usage:
- We use used to + infinitive to talk about past repeated actions.
Ex: She used to eat ice-cream after school. (but she stopped doing this)
- We use used to + infinitive to talk about long time situation BUT no longer true.
EXCERCISES
Fill in the gaps with the past simple or past continuous form of the verbs in brackets.
1. Where (you,spend) did you spend your summer holiday last year?
2. A friend of my brother (call) ___________________him last night, but he (not,be) ____________________at
home. So I (take) ________________________a message for him.
3. Peter (not go)________________________ to school yesterday. I just (see)___________________ him at the
school-gate.
4. Yesterday when I (see)_________________ her, she (sit)______________________ in the hall.
5. She (study) ______________________ French when she was at school.
6. He (sleep) ________________________ when I came.
7. The new school-year(start) _____________________ two weeks ago.
8. Yesterday our biology teacher (give)______________________ an experiment.
9. Where _______________you (go) ___________________ for your holiday last summer?
10. He (say) ___________________ nothing to me about it last night.
11. ________________you (find) ___________________ my fountain-pen yesterday?
12. Last Saturday, our parents (take) _____________________ us to Thang Long Theatre.
13. What _________________you (do)______________ from 7 to 9 o’clock last night?
14. What ________________ you (do)__________________ when she came yesterday?
15. At this time last week, I (visit)__________________________ Uncle Ho’s Mausoleum.
16. Shakespeare (be) _____________________ born at Stratford-On-Avon in 1564.
17. When he (come) _______________to see them yesterday, they (play) ______________ a game of chess.
18. Where(be) ______________________ your parents last week?
19. We (move) _____________________ here two years ago.
20. The students (talk)________________________ when the teacher entered.
21. They (do) ___________________ their best to help her last night.
22. Last month, they (attend) _________________________ an English course.
23. At this time yesterday, I (have) _________________________ a meeting.
24. We (take) ______________________________ a nap at 1 pm yesterday.
25. At that moment last week, they (sing) ________________________________
26. _________________ you (work) _____________________ at that time?
27. He (not watch) _______________________________ TV at 8 o’clock last night.
28. We (chat) _______________________________ together while you were going out.
29. He (teach) _____________________________ at 2pm yesterday.
30. She (type) ___________________________________ a letter while her son was cooking.
31. These students (do) _______________________________ exercises while she was compiling a file.
32. They (shout) ___________________________________ their children when we came.

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