Past Simple and Continuous

1. PAST
SIMPLE AND
CONTINUOUS

2. PAST SIMPLE
Past Simple
Positive Form Negative Form Question Form
He/She/It/I/We/They/Yo
u + Verb2
He/She/It/I/We/They/Yo
u + Didn’t + Verb1
Did +
He/She/It/I/We/They/Yo
u + Verb1?
Keywords: yesterday, last week, last month, this morning (when meaning is past), ago,
once upon a time, in ancient times, in early days, in my childhood, in my youth, in
olden days, in 1947.

3. PAST SIMPLE
• We use the past simple for:
I. Actions and states which happens in the past (Short,
finished and lasted for a specific period of time).
I saw George yesterday.
He put the money on the table.
We stayed in New York for a month last year.
In my youth I went to Petra.

4. PAST CONTINUOUS
Past continuous
Positive Form Negative Form Question Form
He/She/It/I + Was +
Verb1(ing)
He/She/It/I + Was + Not
+Verb1(ing)
Was + He/She/It/I +
Verb1(ing)?
We/They/You + Were +
Verb1(ing)
We/They/You + Were +
Not + Verb1(ing)
Were + We/They/You +
Verb1(ing)?
Keywords: when, while, throughout the night, all evening yesterday, all last month, all
yesterday, At 9 o’clock this morning, From two o’clock to four.

5. PAST CONTINUOUS
• We use the Past continuous for:
I. Actions in progress at a time in the past.
I was having breakfast at eight o'clock.
I heard the news while I was driving.
I was living in London then.
II. Unfinished actions in the past (interrupted actions).
They were talking about me when I walked in the room.

6. NOTE
• We use past continuous to describe the situation or
background to story and past simple to the main events.
We use when or while to link them:
I met Linda while I was living in Spain.
We were having breakfast when the phone rang and I
answered it. it was Paul.

7. EXERCISE 1
• Choose Past Simple or Past Continuous.
1. I ----- (sit) in a café when you ----- (call).
2. When you ----- (arrive) at the party, who ----- (be) there?
3. Yesterday I ----- (go) to the library, next I ----- (have) a swim, later I
----- (meet) Julie for lunch.
4. He ----- (live) in Russia when the revolution ----- (start).
5. He ----- (work) in a bank when he ----- (meet) his wife.

8. EXERCISE 1 SOLUTION
1. (was sitting) (called)
2. (arrived) (was)
3. (went) (had) (went)
4. (was living) (started)
5. (was working) (met)