Review: Past Tenses

Back in February, we looked at different verb tenses. Today, we'll focus on past simple, past continuous, past perfect simple, and past perfect continuous.

Part One: Past Simple vs Past Continuous

The past simple is for completed actions in the past.

The past continuous (be + ing verb) is for incomplete (not finished) actions in the past. 

We use the past simple and past continuous together when we're telling stories or talking about past events. Read the illustrated passage below.

Mike was cooking dinner when Amanda got home.

   

 was cooking =  incomplete action

got = finished action

Mark was not finished cooking when Amanda arrived.

We do use the past simple for storytelling too. However, notice how the story changes when we only use it.

Mike cooked dinner when Amanda got home.

cooked, got = completed actions

Mark started cooking when Linda arrived.

Exercise 1: Storytelling 

Note: Answers can be written in the comments section


Choose  the past simple or the past continuous  to complete the illustrated passage below.

Jiro was doing/did his homework when he heard/was hearing loud noises from outside. He was going/went out to the backyard and saw/was seeing his dog. Buddy. He chased/was chasing a cat.

And now for the two most annoying and complicated tenses...

Part Two: Past Perfect Simple & Past Perfect Continuous

The past perfect simple (had + past participle) is for actions complete before a certain point in the past. We usually use it with the past simple.

By the time Mary got home,  Mike had made dinner.

         
                   Past                            Present

 |<-----------x----------x---->|--------------------->

            had made       got (home)

        action 1           action 2

 

The past perfect continuous (had been + ing verb) is for actions that were in progress up to a certain point in the past. We also usually use it with the past simple.

                                Past                                                                                        Present

|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>X--------------|----------------------------------------------|
     had been waiting                                        arrived


The key point to remember is that action #1 is uses the past perfect simple or past perfect continuous. Action #2 is the past simple.

Exercise 2: Past Perfect Tenses

Note: Answers can be written in the comments section



Choose either the simple past, past perfect simple, or past perfect continuous (in some cases both past perfect simple and past perfect continuous can be used) to complete the sentences. Note: one of these tenses can't be used in this exercise.

Jiro and Kenta  fell/had fallen/had been falling asleep on the train Friday night; they just finished/ had just finished/had just been finishing a 14-hour work day.