THE PAST

​THE PAST

​Let's review the past.

The Simple Past

Use the Simple Past to talk about finished past actions.

Structure:

Aff. Use the past form of the verbs.
Neg. Use DIDN'T and the base form.
Int. Use DID? and the base form.

Irregular verbs

Study
Play
Work
Call
Visit

Regular verbs

VERBS

Studied
Played
Worked
Called
Visited

Buy
Come
Go
Meet
Write

Bought
Came
Went
Met
Wrote

Exercise 01

Turn the sentences into the required form.

Open Ended

Susana visited her mother yesterday. (Negative)

Open Ended

You didn't text your father today. (Interrogative)

Open Ended

Did her father come home late last weekend? (Affirmative)

Open Ended

Did the students finish class at four today? (Negative)

Open Ended

Alexander did his homework last night. (Interrogative)

Open Ended

Did the lights go off in the evening? (Affirmative)

The Past Continuous

Use the Past Continuous to talk about actions in progress in a specific time in the past.

Structure:

Aff. Use the WAS and WERE and the verb in the ING form.
Neg. Use WASN'T and WEREN'T the verb in the ING form.
Int. Use WAS? and WERE? the verb in the ING form.

* Remember WAS is for I, he, she, it. And WERE is for we, you, they.

Exercise 02

Select WAS or WERE to complete the sentences.

Multiple Choice

The students .......... playing soccer during the break.

• was

• were

Multiple Choice

The cat and the dog .......... sleeping at night.

• wasn't

• weren't

Multiple Choice

.......... your cousin playing the guitar in the party?

• Was

• Were

Exercise 03

Turn the sentences into the required form.

Open Ended

Were the clients eating during the earthquake? (Affirmative)

Open Ended

Susana was doing her homework at school. (Interrogative)

Open Ended

My father was working when I saw him. (Negative)

WHEN and WHILE

Use WHEN and WHILE to join two sentences.

WHEN introduces the Simple Past, and WHILE introduces the Past Continuous.

Past Continuous

Simple Past

Past Continuous

WHEN

WHILE

WHILE

Simple Past

Past Continuous

Past Continuous

Exercise 03

Complete the sentences using the Simple Past or the Past Continuous.

Open Ended

When my mother came home, my sister ... (Make dinner)

Open Ended

While Susana was doing the laundry, her husband .... (Call home)

Open Ended

I was putting on makeup when somebody .... (knock the door)

Open Ended

The police trapped him while he ....... (Run)

Open Ended

While my parents were cleaning the house, we ....... (wash the dishes)