Past Simple and Past Continuous

Welcome!

Practice Past simple and Past continuous:

When do we use past simple?

We use Simple Past to talk about an action that started and finished in the past.

We watched a movie yesterday.

I washed a lot of dishes after the party last night.

We also use Past Simple to talk about a series (things done one after the other) in the past:

Kung Fu Panda helped his dad, ate some dumplings, and practiced kung fu.

It means that first he helped his dad.

Next he ate some dumplings

Then he practiced kungfu. These actions took place

one after the other (in a series).

When do we use past continuous?

We use past continuous when:

1) talk about something that was happening around a particular time in the past.

(The verb ends with ing and takes was / were before it.)

What were you doing at 9 o’clock last night?

I was watching TV.

We often use Past Simple and Past Continuous together

when we want to say that something was still happening

when something else happened.

Example: Panda was running when he fell down.

Here, we are talking about what he was doing when he

fell down.

If you are talking only about one action from the past,

you won't say:

Panda was falling down. (It would be wrong!)

Signal words for past continuous: while / when

Panda was running when he fell down.

When Panda fell down, he was running.

While Panda was running, he fell down.

Panda fell down while he was running.

Please also remember that we use past continuous when

we point to specific time in the past.

Signal words: at midnight/ yesterday at this time/ at 6

Examples:

Last night at 6 PM, I was studying for my quiz.
At midnight, we were still driving through the desert.
Yesterday at this time, I was shopping

More examples:

1. While she was driving, it started raining. (drive, start)

2. The robber entered the house while we were sleeping. (enter, sleep)

3. He was chopping wood when he broke his axe. (chop, break)

4. No, I'm not crazy! They painted me while I was sleeping. (paint. sleep) And I hate pink!

5. Mum took this picture while my naughty brother was biting me! (take, bite)

6. Yesterday, at this time, we were feeding the animals at the zoo.

In order to do well with your past tense, you need to know the past tense form of the verbs.
Click here to practice the past tense form of the verbs: