past

PAST SIMPLE VS PAST CONTINOUOS

PAST SIMPLE VS PAST CONTINOUOS 

INSTRUCTIONS:   Copy this information on your notebook, and then hand in to your teacher in the next class  to be stamped.

"Past simple" vs "Past continuous"

1. Past simple

El "past simple" describe una acción pasada ya finalizada.

• When I was young I lived in Madrid (ahora vivo en Barcelona)

2. Past continuous

Indica que una acción se estaba desarrollando en cierto momento delpasado al cual se hace referencia. No dice si la acción ya finalizó o todavía continuaba.

• When the mother came home her husband was playing with the kids (no sabemos si terminó de jugar en ese momento o continuó jugando)

A veces se describen dos acciones simultáneas que tuvieron lugar en el pasado. En dicho caso, se utiliza el "past imple" para describir aquella que finalizó y el "past continuous" para aquella otra que estaba ocurriendo cuando la primera tuvo lugar.

• Yesterday evening when you called me I was having a shower
• When the parents arrived home the children were watching TV

Otra diferencia entre ambos tiempos es que el "past continuous" se utiliza a veces para indicar que la acción es más casual, menos planificada.

• Yesterday morning, from 8 to 10, I was running (algo rutinario, que suelo hacer con frecuencia, por lo que no lo resalto)
• Yesterday morning, from 8 to 10, I ran (algo diferente, un tanto extraordinario, por lo que quiero destacarlo)

Simple Past	Past Progressive
irregular verbs: see 2nd column of irregular verbs I spoke regular verbs: verb + ed I worked	past form of 'be' + ing form of verb I was speaking you were speaking he / she / it was speaking we were speaking they were speaking

Simple Past	Past Progressive
irregular verbs: see 2nd column of irregular verbs I spoke regular verbs: verb + ed I worked	past form of 'be' + ing form of verb I was speaking you were speaking he / she / it was speaking we were speaking they were speaking

Use

After another or at the same time?

Do you want to express that the actions in the past happened one after another or at the same time?

Simple Past	Past Progressive
after another She came home, switched on the computer and checked her e-mails.	at the same time Simon was playing on the computer while his brother was watching TV.

New action or already in progress?

If you want to express that 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.

Simple Past	Past Progressive
new action My mobile rang (when I was sitting in a meeting.)	action already in progress While I was sitting in a meeting, (my mobile suddenly rang.)

Only mentioning or emphasising progress?

Do you just want to mention that an action took place in the past (also used for short actions)? Or do you want to put emphasis on the progress, e.g. that an action was taking place at a certain time?

Simple Past	Past Progressive
just mentioning Colin played football yesterday.	emphasising progress Yesterday at six o'clock, Colin was playing football.

Past Continuous and Past Simple

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.

• What were you doing at 8 o’clock last night? I was watching television.

I started watching television before 8 o’clock and I continued watching it after 8 o’clock.

• In 1994 he was working in a small town in Poland.
• At 6 o’clock on Saturday morning we were travelling to the airport.

2. We often use the past continuous and the past simple tense together. When this happens, the past continuous describes a longer, ‘background’ action or situation and the past simple describes the action or events.

• When I woke up this morning it was raining and my father was singing in the kitchen.
• I was walking home, whistling happily, when I saw two masked men run out of the bank.

Often, the ‘action’ described by the past simple tense interrupts the ‘situation’ described by the past continuous tense.

• I broke my leg when I was skiing.
• I was playing a computer game when the doorbell rang.

Notice that the past continuous describes ‘situations’ that go on for some time – ‘skiing’ and ‘playing’ but the past simple describes ‘actions’ that happen quickly – ‘broke’ and ‘rang’.

Notice too the important difference between these two sentences.

• When they arrived, Jeff was cooking dinner. Jeff started cooking before they arrived.
• When they arrived, Jeff cooked dinner. Jeff started cooking dinner after they arrived.