Past Tense

Past Tense

· Simple Past Tense is a kind of tense which is used to describe an event or action that happened already in a certain time in the past

The pattern :

– (+) Subject + verb II + complement

– (-) Subject + did not + verb II + complement

– (?) Did + subject + verb I

The examples :

– (+) I went to Tangkiling yesterday

– (-) I did not go anywhere last night

– (?) Did you go last week?

Adverbs used : yesterday, last night, last week, two days ago, a few minutes ago, last weekend, last month, last year, in 1984, etc.

• Past Continuous Tense is a kind of tense that is used to describe an event or an action which was happening in a certain time in the past

The pattern :

– (+) Subject + was/were +verb-ing+ complement

– (-) Subject + was not/were not+verb-ing+ complement

– (?) was/were+ subject + verb-ing+complement

The examples :

• (+) He was writing a letter at eight o’clock last night

• (-) He was not writing a letter at seven o’clock last night

• (?) Were you writing a letter at eight last night?

Adverbs used : at the time like this yesterday, at seven o’clock last night, etc.

· Past Perfect Tense is a kind of tense that is used to describe an action or an event that started in a certain time in the past and completed or finished till certain time in the past too; or past perfect tense is used to express an action or an event that had happened before the other event or action happened

The pattern :

– (+) Subject + had+verb III+cmplement

– (-) Subject + had not+ver III+complement

– (?) Had + subject +verb III+complement

Examples: (+) We had eaten before they came

(-) They had not eaten before we came

(?) Had they eaten before we came?

Adverbs used :

from 1998 to 1999, once, twice, etc.