Simple Past and Simple Continuous by Mr. Sameh

Welcome everybody
Good morning
I’m Mr. Sameh soliman

Simple Past vs.
Past Continuous
When do we use
each tense?

Use the simple
past for:
1) action that
happened in the
past and is . . .
over, done, finished
Use the past
continuous for:
1) action that was in
progress at a specific
point in the past OR
2) focusing on an action
that continued for a long
time in the past
Examples . . .

Simple Past (Examples)
Action that was completed in the past:
Adel went fishing last week.
I worked until 2:00 p.m. yesterday.
My family came to visit me last monday.
*Time Expressions frequently used with the simple past:
yesterday, last ______,
past dates (in 1990), _____ ago, etc.

Past Continuous (Examples)
Action that was in progress at a particular point in
the past:
At 2:00 yesterday, Nasser was playing football.
Khalid wasn’t home last night when I called him. I
think he was working.
Fatima and her husband were visiting us last week.

Grammar
Structure:
Here are some reminders about how
to make the simple past and past
continuous:

The simple past: structure
English has two types of
verbs in the past tense: taught
walked
studied
gave
became
cried
lived
did
regular
regular
regular
regular
irregular
irregular
irregular
irregular
Look at the following
list of past tense
verbs…
which verbs are
regular, and which
are irregular?
 Regular verbs
 Irregular verbs

For regular verbs, simply use the –ed form of the
verb in a positive sentence.
When I was a child, I ___________ the tennis.
Donna ______________ and _______________
in Paris when she was younger.
played
lived studied
**Be careful with
spelling changes!

For irregular verbs, use the correct past tense form in
positive sentences.
Last week, I ___________ you a letter.
The students _____________ a speech in
English. They __________ a great job!
These forms must be memorized!
sent
gave
did

The verb BE
Remember the forms of verb BE for the simple past
tense:
I, He, She, It WAS
They, We, You WERE

Simple Past (Negative)
For all verbs (EXCEPT be), use:
didn't simple form
of VERB
+
Examples . . .

1) Nabil worked yesterday.
Nabil didn’t work yesterday.
2) They had a meeting.
They didn’t have a meeting.
3) Saleh took classes last year.
Saleh didn’t take classes last year.
4) I learned how to drive.
I didn’t learn how to drive.

VERB (BE) (Negative)
For this verb ONLY, never use didn’t. Simply ADD
the word NOT after the verb.
I was tired. I was NOT tired.
She was here. She was NOT here.
They are happy. They are NOT happy.

The Past Continuous:
Don’t forget that VERB BE is part of this structure.
I, He, She, It WAS
You, We, They WERE
verb
-ING
+

Examples:
My friend was trying to call me last night, but I
wasn’t home.
The kids were studying last night at 9:00.
I was cleaning my house all day yesterday.

Past Continuous (Negative)
For this tense, simply ADD the word NOT after the
verb BE.
They were syudying last night.
They were NOT studyinging last night.
He was yelling at me.
He was NOT yelling at me.

Important Note about
Past Continuous!
Some verbs are NOT typically used in the continuous
tense. Instead, we prefer to use these verbs in the
simple tenses (simple present or past).
These verbs are called STATIVE (or non-action)
verbs. Here are some examples:
want like love hate
know need see hear
believe understand have (possession)
forget remember belong

Examples:
I liked Rome.
NOT: I was liking Rome.
She had a headache.
NOT: She was having a headache.
I knew the answer.
NOT: I was knowing the answer.
_____________
_____________
_____________

Using both tenses together:
Sometimes we use both the simple
past and the past continuous
together to mean . . .
That one action (simple past) interrupted
a continuing action (past continuous)
Examples . . .

1.Reem burned his hand while he was
cooking dinner.
=in the middle of cooking dinner, he burned his hand.
2. When Hassan called, we were
having dinner.
=in the middle of eating dinner, Hassan called.
continuing action = past continuous
interrupting action = simple past

We can use 2 verbs in past
continuous to say that two actions
were happening at the same time in
the past:
Ex. Jassim was at the park. He
was sitting on the grass and
reading.

For more practice . . .
1) Go to this website:
www.ecc6.blogspot.com
2) On the right side, click on Grammar Site. Then click
on 330.
3) Click on Grammar, and then go down the page to
Verbs. Click on activities for Simple Past and Past
Continuous.
These activities give excellent
explanation and practice.

And . . .
Remember to ask your
teacher or another classmate
if you need help.
Your teacher can give you
more explanation, examples,
and exercises if you need
them.

Simple Past and Simple Continuous by Mr. Sameh

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