Past Tenses - English Grammar Concepts with Examples
What is Past Tenses?
- Simple Past Tense
- Past Continuous Tense
- Past Perfect Tense
- Past Perfect Continuous Tense
1. Simple Past Tense
The simple past tense is used to express an action which took place in the past and is completed by the time of speaking. We always use simple past to say when something happened, so it is associated with certain past time expressions.
General form:
- subject +was/were/past tense verb
- I/He/she/it/all singular subject - was/past tense verb
- We/you/they/all plural subjects - were/past tense verb
Rule 1:
To express an idea that an action started and finished at a specific time in the past.
Examples:
- He saw a movie yesterday.
- I didn't see him yesterday.
- Last year, I traveled to Delhi.
- Last month, I didn't travel to Mumbai.
Rule 2:
To list a series of completed actions in the past.
Examples:
- He finished work, walked to the road, and found a big shop to purchase.
- I arrived from the railway station at 6:00, lodged into the hotel at 7:00, and met my friends at 8:00.
Rule 3:
To express the certain duration which starts and stops in the past (for two years, for five minutes, all day, all year). That means to describe events that happened over a period of time in the past but not now.
Examples:
- I lived in Chennai for three years.
- Ramya studied German for five years.
- They ran at the ground all day.
- She did not stay at the meeting the entire time.
- I talked on the phone for five minutes
Rule 4:
To talk about habitual or repeated actions that took place in the past.
Examples:
- He studied English when he was a child.
- He played the cricket.
- She didn't play the Violin.
- Did he play tennis when he was a kid?
- She worked at the shop as a part timer.
Rule 5:
To describe past facts or generalizations which are no longer true.
Example:
- Sheena was shy as a child, but now she is very outgoing.
- He didn't like meat before.
- Did she live in London when she was a kid?
- People paid much more to make telephone calls.
Keywords:
- Yesterday
- One day, last week, last month/last year
- In 1980, last in 1985/in 1975/in 1947
- Ago (long long ago/ two years ago)
- In ancient times
- Ago
- Once
- In early days
- Once upon a time
- In my childhood
- In those day
- In my boyhood days.
- In olden days last week last month/last year
2. Past Continuous Tense
Past continuous tense is used to express a continued or ongoing action which occurred in past and completed at some point in past. It expresses an ongoing nature of an action in past.
General form:
- Subject + was/were + verb + ing
- I/He/she/it/all singular subjects- was+ verb + ing
- We/you/they/all plural subjects- were + verb + ing
Rule 1:
Past continuous tense is used to express an action going on at sometime in the past.
Example:
- It was raining throughout the night.
- I was reading a story for a long time yesterday.
- They were playing football all evening on past month.
- She was selling fruits from morning to evening.
- They were playing cards yesterday evening till it got dark.
Rule 2:
Past continuous tense is used to indicate an interruption in a longer action of the past. The interruption is usually a shorter action in the Simple Past. Remember this can be a real interruption or just an interruption in time.
Examples:
- He was watching TV when I called.
- When the phone rang, she was toasting the bread.
- While they were having the picnic, it started to rain.
- What was he doing when the rain started?
- I was listening to music, so I didn't hear the fire alarm.
Note: In the Simple Past, a specific time is used to show when an action began or finished. In the Past Continuous, a specific time only interrupts the action.
Examples:
- Last night at 9 PM, I was eating dinner.
- Last Saturday night at 9 PM, I was in the process of making video.
Rule 3:
To express an idea that two actions were happening parallel at the same time in a same sentence.
Examples:
- I was studying while she was preparing dinner.
- While Sheela was reading, Mala was watching television.
- Was he listening while she was singing?
- He wasn't paying attention while she was writing the letter.
- What was she doing while you were waiting?
Rule 4:
To describe the situation or environment at a particular time in the past.
Example:
- When he walked into the office, some were talking on the phones, the head was giving instructions, and staff members were waiting to see the boss.
Rule 5:
If a subordinate clause starts with 'while, past continuous tense should be used.
Example:
- Uma fell into the river while she was crossing the bridge.
- While she was cooking, her sari caught fire.
- While Bama was dancing, she fell down.
- While I was spelling, I had bad dreams.
Rule 6:
To express the two actions which were going simultaneously on at sometime in the past.
Example:
- While my mother was cooking, my father was listening to the radio.
- I was writing a latter when my wife was working in the garden.
- When Rome was burning, the king was playing fiddle.
- When the child was crying, her mother was sleeping.
- The telephone bell was ringing, while he was taking bath.
Rule 7:
To express the two actions in which one action was completed and the other was continued for sometime in the past. It may express on unfinished or incomplete action in the past.
Example:
- I was reading when he came in.
- We were playing chess when you telephoned.
- I met him while I was going to the office.
- He lost his pen when he was playing football.
- I found this letter when I was looking for a book.
Keywords:
- All last night
- From two o'clock to four
- All last week
- All last month
- All yesterday
- All morning yesterday
- At 9'o clock this morning
- All afternoon yesterday
- All evening yesterday
- For a long time yesterday
- Throughout the night
3. Past Perfect Tense
Past perfect tense is used to express an action which has occurred in past (usually, a long time ago) and action which has occurred in past before another action in past.
It is used to express a continued or ongoing action that started in past and continued until sometime in past.
General form:
- Subject + had + past participle
Rule 1:
To express the two actions that one action happened before another in the past.
Example:
- I had gone to bed when someone rang the bell.
- The wounded person had already died when the ambulance arrived.
- When we reached the airport, the plane had already left.
- We had taken our seats in the hall when the film star arrived.
- They had moved out of the house when the wall collapsed.
Rule 2:
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:
- I had never seen such a beautiful beach before I went to Kauai.
- I did not have any money because I had lost my wallet.
- Tony knew Istanbul so well because he had visited the city several times.
- Had Susan ever studied Thai before she moved to Thailand?
- She only understood the movie because she had read the book.
Rule 3:
Subordinate clause which starts with 'after' is to be mentioned in 'past perfect tense and the main clause should be mentioned in the 'past tense'.
Example:
- We reached the railway station after the train had left.
- After the tailor had taken the measurements, he cut the cloths.
- They left the place after the sun had set.
- After the boy had plucked the flowers, he ran away.
- The driver started the bus after I had got into it.
Rule 4:
Subordinate clause which starts with 'before' is to be mentioned in simple with tense and the main clause should be mentioned in the 'past perfect tense.
Example:
- Bob had prepared thoroughly before he went to the examination.
- We had reached home before it began to rain.
- The patient had died before the doctor came.
- The formers had finished reaping wheat before the storm came.
- He had finished the examination before the electricity went off.
Rule 5:
To describe as action completed before a certain period or point of time in the past.
Example:
- We had taken our dinner by eight.
- The plane had arrived before 10'o clock.
- By lunch time the batsman had scored sixty five runs.
- By 5’o clock the teacher had valued all the answer papers.
Rule 6:
To show that something started in the past and continued up until another action in the past.
Examples:
- We had that car for ten years before it broke down.
- By the time Alex finished his studies, he had been in London for over eight years.
- They felt bad about selling the house because they had owned it for more than forty years.
Keywords:
- After
- Before
4. Past Perfect Continuous Tense
Past prefect continuous is used to indicate a continuous action that was completed at some point of time in the past.
General form:
- Subject + had + been + verb+ing
- All singular and plural subjects - had + been + verb + ing
Rule 1:
The past perfect continuous tense is used to show that something started in the past and continued up until another time in the past.
Examples:
- We had been talking for over two hours before Raja arrived.
- He had been working at that company for two years when he went out of business.
- How long had you been waiting to get on the train?
- She wanted to sit down because she had been standing all day at work.
- Leila had been teaching at the university for more than two years before she left to London.
Even though these terms related to the Present Perfect Continuous, the duration should not continue until now, it has to stop before something else in the past.
Rule 2:
The Past Perfect Continuous is to be used to show cause and effect of an action before another action in the past.
Examples:
- Karuna was tired because he had been walking.
- Sam lost weight because he had not been eating properly.