THE SIMPLE PAST LY THUYET

Action finished in the past single or repeated 1.. The most common use of the past continuous tense is to talk about something that was happening around a particular time in the past.. E

THE SIMPLE PAST, PAST CONTINUOUS and PAST PERFECT

I The simple past tense:

USE 1 Action finished in the past (single or repeated)

1 I met my wife in 1983.

2 Tom flew to Chicago last week

3 Peter visited his friends in Florida two months ago

Signal words: yesterday, 2 minutes ago, in 1990, the other day, last

Friday

USE 2 Series of completed actions in the past

1 I finished work, walked to the beach, and found a nice place to swim

2 He entered a room, lit a cigarette and smiled at the guests

II The past continuous:

USE 1 The most common use of the past continuous tense is to talk about something that was happening around a particular time in the past.

1 At this time last week I was lying on the beach in Florida

2 What were you doing at 8 o'clock yesterday?

3 At 6 o’clock on Saturday morning we were travelling to the airport

USE 2 Parallel Actions: Both actions were happening at the same time

The actions are parallel

1 When Bob was painting windows, Mary was working in the kitchen

2 I was studying while he was making dinner

3 While Ellen was reading, Tim was watching television

4 They were talking about her when she walked into the room

USE 3 Repetition and Irritation with "Always": Expresses the idea that

something irritating or shocking often happened in the past The concept is very similar to the expression "used to" but with negative emotion

1 My father was always lecturing my brother

2 Mary was always coming to class late

USE 4 Duration in the past:

1 I was riding my bike all day yesterday

2 Dad was working in his garden all morning

3 The nurse was sitting up with the patient all last night

4 Tom was sleeping during class

Signal words:

- From (Tuestay) to (Friday)

- All (last month/last week)

- The whole of (yesterday)

- Between…

USE 5 Polite questions: If we want to ask a polite question, we can use

the Past Continuous

1 I was wondering if you could open the window

2 I was thinking you might help me with this problem

Even though the sentences have a Past Continuous form, they refer to the present moment Their meaning is similar to the "could you" sentences, but they are more polite

III The past perfect: The past perfect is used in the same way as the

present perfect, but it refers to a time in the past, not the present

USE 1 Completed Action Before Something in the Past: The Past

Perfect expresses the idea that something occurred before another action in the past It can also show that something happened before a specific time in the past

Examples:

1 I did not have any money because I had lost my wallet

2 Tony knew New York so well because he had visited the city several times

3 When I got home yesterday, my father had already cooked dinner

4 I arrived very late at the party All my friends had already gone home

5 I was very tired as I hadn't slept well for several days

USE 2: Duration Before Something in the Past (Non-Continuous

Verbs)

We use the Past Perfect to show that something started in the past and continued up until another action in the past

Examples:

1 We had had that car for ten years before it broke down

2 By the time Alex finished his studies, he had been in London for over eight years

3 They felt bad about selling the house because they had owned it for more than forty years

4 When George died he and Anne had been married for nearly fifty

years

IV The simple past and past continuous:

A new action happened in the middle of another action, you need both tenses: Simple Past the new action and Past Progressive for the

action already in progress Often, the ‘action’ described by the past

simple tense interrupts the ‘situation’ described by the past

continuous tense

E.x

1 While I was sitting in a meeting, (my mobile suddenly rang.)

2 When I woke up this morning it was raining and my father was

singing in the kitchen.

3 I was walking home, whistling happily, when I saw two masked men

run out of the bank.

4 I was playing a computer game when the doorbell rang

GAMES Once upon a time

Give each S a squeeky toy or something that makes a noise This is a nice listening

activity The T tells a story set in the past (make it up as you go along) However, make

mistakes with some of the verbs (e.g A beautiful princess one day waked up and looked out of her window ) Each time you make a mistake the Ss need to squeeze their squeeky toy to make

a noise and then correct the T

Past tense mistakes

In groups, have students write past tense sentences about anything they want on

separate pieces of paper - but they have to make a mistake when writing the verb (most Ss will really enjoy being allowed to make a mistake on purpose!) For example, "Last week I eated curry for breakfast everyday" (Encourage crazy situations to make it fun) After writing some sentences on different pieces of paper have the Ss swap papers with other groups and make corrections

Past tense slap

A very simple activity Ss are put into teams The teacher either shows a verb flashcard

or says a verb in the infinitive and the Ss have to slap the table if they know the past tense version (e.g T: "Throw", S: "Threw") The T asks the S who slapped the table first to give his/her answer to win a point for their team

The last time I

Ss sit in a circle with a pile of action flashcards, face down, in the middle S1 picks up a card and makes a sentence using the structure, "The last time I _ was (time expression)" E.g The last time I played tennis was last summer The last time I watch TV was yesterday evening The last time I cooked was 4 days ago, etc If the sentence is perfect the S keeps the card and scores 1 point If not, the card is returned to the pile

Yesterday I went to

This is a chain game, like the game "I went to the market and bought _" T sits in a circle with the Ss The T starts by saying "Yesterday, I went to the supermarket and bought some bread" Then S2 will have to repeat that sentence and add his/her own, e.g "Yesterday, I went to the supermarket and bought some bread, then I went to the movie theater and watched a movie" Then S3 repeats these two sentences and add his/her own e.g "Yesterday, I went to the supermarket and bought some bread, then I went to the movie theater and watched a movie, then I went to a cafe and drank a Coke" ,etc If a S forgets something he/she sits out that round

Yesterday Time Guess

On 12 small squares of paper write down key hourly times (e.g 6am, 7am, 12pm, 4pm, 6pm, etc.) Also include a few "wild cards" with a question mark written on them Fold the squares of paper and put into a small box Ss sit around the box and take turns on taking out a piece of paper They have to make a sentence based on what they did yesterday using the

structure, "Yesterday, I was _ing at _ o'clock" (E.g Yesterday, I was sleeping at 6 o'clock in the morning, Yesterday, I was eating dinner at 6 o'clock in the evening, etc.) If a S picks a wild card they can make a sentence about any time of the day If the student makes a perfect sentence they keep the piece of paper, if not it goes back into the box The person with the most pieces of paper at the end is the winner