past tense 3

• Use 3: Describe and set the scene; tell what was happening or in progress when something else happened or interrupted a past in-progress action.. • Examples: Car accident Broken b[r]

Past Tense and Past Continuous Verbs

Kristi Reyes ESL 899:

Transition to College Writing

Simple Past Tense

• Actions, events, states that started and

finished in the past (…ago, last …,

yesterday… )

• Regular verbs: -ed

• Irregular verbs: change spelling,

memorize

for list of irregular verbs, see

1 Blackboard Course Documents, Verb Tenses, Past Tense folder

2 Grammar Express textbook pages 336 - 337

3 The instructor

Tell your partner – use past

tense verbs!

• What did you do yesterday?

• What did you do Friday night?

• Where were you Saturday morning?

• What did you do to celebrate your last birthday?

• When did you move to the U.S.?

• Why did you start taking classes at MiraCosta College?

• How did you learn to speak English so well?

Past Continuous: Three Uses

• Use 1: Past actions that were in progress at a particular time in the past; actions that were not yet finished at a past time

Erika’s Schedule

8 – 9: had breakfast

9 – 10: finished her

homework

10 – 11: exercised

11 – 12: cooked lunch

12 – 2: shopped

2 – 5: talked to a friend

At 8:30, Erika _

breakfast.

At 9:15, she _ her

homework.

At 10, she _.

At 11:30, she _.

At 1, she lunch.

Tell a classmate – use past

• Where were you last Thursday at 8 p.m.? What were you doing?

• What were you doing Friday at 5 p.m.? Where were you? Who were you with?

• What were you doing Sunday morning at 7

a.m.?

• What were you doing last night at this time?

• What were you doing last week at this time?

• What were you doing last year at this time?

Past Continuous, continued

• Use 2: Two (or more) actions that were in

progress in the past at the same time

• Use while

• Examples:

Sorry, I wasn’t listening to you while you were

talking

While I was reading, he was writing

Past Continuous, continued

• Use 3: Describe and set the scene; tell

what was happening or in progress when something else happened or interrupted a past in-progress action

• Examples:

Car accident

Broken bone

Meeting a future spouse

A Crime

Form: Using past and past

continuous together

• Use past continuous

to say what was in

progress

I was crossing the

street …

• Use simple past for

the interrupting

action

when the driver ran the

red light

Other examples:

I was sleeping when the telephone rang

and woke me up.

He was driving too fast when he crashed

the car.

More Examples:

We were watching the news when the announcer made a special live report.

I was trying to study when you called Student examples:

Practice:

Do you have a good memory?

Are you a good witness?

• Directions: Look at the following picture

for one minute Try to remember as many details as you can, but don’t write

anything.

Only one minute…

• Ready, go ….

One minute…

What do you remember?

1 How many people were there?

2 Where were the people?

3 What was hanging from the ceiling?

4 What was the bank robber holding?

5 What was the bank robber wearing?

6 What color was his hair?

7 What was covering the bank robber’s face?

8 Was the bank robber right-handed or left-handed?

9 What was the bank manager doing?

10 What was the bank teller doing?

11 Who was walking into the bank?

12 What time was it?

Form of Past Continuous

Subject + was / were + verb+ing

Negation:

Subject + was / were + not + verb+ing

Yes/ No Question:

Was / Were + subject + + verb+ing ?

Information Question:

(WH) + Was / Were + subject + + verb+ing ?

Remember –ing spelling rules?

Verb ending in How to make the -ING form Examples

(Most verbs) Add -ING say - saying go - going

walk - walking

1 vowel + 1 consonant Double the consonant, then add -ING swim - swimming hit - hitting

get - getting

1 vowel + 1 consonant + E Remove E, then add –ING

come - coming lose - losing live – living

A little practice

1 The telephone (ring) when I (take a shower).

2 I (eat) dinner when you (come) to visit.

3 It (begin) to rain while they (walk) home.

4 We (see) an accident when we (drive) on the freeway.

5 The driver (no pay) attention to the cars in front when he (crash) into the red convertible.

6 She (chop) onions when she (cut) her finger.

7 They (watch) TV when the electricity (go) out.

8 A: What (you, do) yesterday at 5:00? I tried to call you but no one

Final Tips …

• Use while for two actions in progress at

the same time in the past:

She was talking while he was driving.

• Use when when telling about sequence of

events (one action that was in progress

that was interrupted by another event in

the past):

I was just leaving when you called.

Punctuation with When and While

• When and while at the front of a sentence, use

a comma:

When you called, I was watching TV

While he was washing the clothes, I was doing the dishes

• When and while in the middle of a sentence, no

comma

I was watching TV when you called

I was doing the dishes while he was washing the clothes

• Practice on textbook pages 42 - 43

• For more practice:

Forming and Using the Past Continuous Quiz Yourself