UNIT
Past simple or Past continuous
PAST SIMPLE Affirmative
Regular verbs:
I lived / He chatted.
Irregular verbs:
I went / He wrote.
PAST CONTINUOUS I / He / She / It was living / writing. You / We / They were chatting / going.
Negative
I didn’t go / We didn’t chat. He didn’t live / They didn’t write.
I / He / She / It wasn’t living / writing. You / We / They weren’t chatting / going.
Interrogative
Did you write...? / Did he jump...?
Was I / he / she / it living / writing…? Were you / we / they chatting / going…?
Short answers
Yes, I did / No, he didn’t.
Yes, I was / No, they weren’t.
USAGE AND EXAMPLES • an action / event that happened at a known or specific moment in the past or for a past period of time: It rained a lot in Brussels last week • a chronological sequence of actions that happened in the past: He got in, started the car and drove away.
2
USAGE AND EXAMPLES • an action / event that was in progress at a specific time in the past: It was raining when I arrived in Brussels. I met Lucy while I was studying at Oxford. What were you doing yesterday at 10? As I was walking in the park, I noticed three squirrels on the grass.
Frequent key expressions (past time)
Frequent key words (expressing duration)
when, yesterday, last night, in the past, 3 days ago, in 1967
while, as, when
PAST SIMPLE or PAST CONTINUOUS The Past continuous and the Past simple are often found in the same sentence to express the relationship between two past activities. Study these examples: Jane was sleeping when the thieves broke in. (the thieves interrupted Jane’s sleep) The phone rang while we were having dinner. (the phone rang during dinner) Note! • Be and modal verbs do not take auxiliary ‘did / didn’t’ in negative and interrogative forms of the Past simple. • The Past continuous is not used with state verbs. (see Unit 1)
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