Grammar Reference

 

2.1 ■ Past simple

Affirmative and negative
I You He / She / It We They	lived didn't (= did not) live		here.
Questions and short answers
Did	I you he / she / it we they	live here?	Yes, I did. No, I didn't.

Spelling rules

• Most regular verbs: add -ed
• Regular verbs ending in -e: add -d
• Short regular verbs ending in consonant + vowel + consonant: double final consonant and add -ed
• Regular verbs ending consonant + -y: change -y to -ied

Many verbs have irregular past simple forms, for example, have → had, know → knew, teach→ taught. They form questions and negatives in the same way as regular verbs. The verb be, however, is different. The past simple affirmative forms of be are was and were. The negative forms are formed by adding n't (= not).

You / We / They were excited about the trip.

I / He / She / It wasn't very old then.

The past simple question form of be is formed by changing the order of the subject and the verb.

Were you / we / they excited about the trip?

Use

We use the past simple for:

• a completed past action or a past state. We often use it with expressions that show when things happened, such as yesterday, ago, when I was a child, in April / 2008, last night / week / month / year, etc.
  The train left the station two minutes ago. You missed it.
  We helped the lady with her bags. She was very old.
• a past habit, often with adverbs of frequency and time expressions such as every week / Monday / summer / year.
  They visited their grandparents every Sunday.
• a sequence of actions in the past.
  The man crossed the road and went into a café.

2.2 ■ Past continuous

Affirmative and negative
I He She It	was wasn't (= was not)		travelling very fast.
We You They	were weren't (= were not)
Questions and short answers
Was	I he she it	looking at a map?	Yes, I was. No, I wasn't.
Were	we you they		Yes, we were. No, we weren't.

Use

We use the past continuous for:

• background descriptions, especially in stories.
  The sun was shining and the birds were singing.
• actions in progress at a specific time in the past.
  What were you doing at 3 p.m. on Wednesday?
  I was watching TV and my brother was listening to music.

We often use the past continuous and the past simple together for a longer action interrupted by a shorter action.

It was raining when we left the house.

We do not use the past continuous with state verbs such as believe, need, understand, etc. but we often use it with verbs which show that the action or event has duration such as wait, live, work, rain, etc.

2.3 ■ while, as and when

• We use while and as with the past simple and past continuous to talk about actions that take place at the same time. Generally, while and as are used to introduce longer actions.
  While you were having lunch, I was working hard in the garden.
  They arrived as I was leaving.
• We use when to introduce a shorter action that interrupts a longer one.
  He was walking home when he met an old friend.
• We also use when to talk about an event that is immediately followed by another event.
  When it stopped snowing, we went outside.
• We can use when, as or while at the beginning of a sentence or in the middle. If it is used in the middle, there is no comma.
  I was working hard in the garden while you were having lunch.
  We went outside when it stopped snowing.