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Overview 1). Past Tense: definition used to express completed action in the past. Past Simple e.g. Positive :I smoked the cigarette-by adding ed Negative :I did not smoke the cigarette-by adding did not / didn't Question :Did I smoke the cigarette-by adding Did in the front conjugated verbs E.g. cry to cried or identify to identified Was has two forms were ? e.g. I was tired this morning You were very good Irregular verbs must be remembered and come with fluency and there are no rules to this. E.g eat - ate get - got give – gave Usage It is used for actions completed at a definite time in the past For a past action when the time is given e.g. He died last night The war ended in 1945 When the time is asked about e.g. When did you fall When did you eat When the action clearly took place at a definite time even though this time is not mentioned I saw him 10 minutes ago I ate yesterday Sometimes the time becomes definite as a result of a question and answer in the present perfect Where did you swim - at the beach – was it cold Common mistakes/errors These will occur but practice makes perfect Activate teaching ideas To teach the irregular verb forms: card games, such as memory pairs, fish, etc. – matching present tense with past (go-went) Narrative story telling in conjunction with past continuous and past perfect Curriculum Vitae Interview role-play Discussing past holidays/major events, etc. 2). Past continuous : describes actions or events in a time before now, which began in the past and is still going on at the time of speaking Form Past tense of the auxiliary verb be (was/were) + the present participle (verb+'ing') Affirmative:e.g. I was swimming / We were swimming Negative:e.g. I was not swimming / We were not swimming Question:e.g. Did you swim? / Did they swim? For interrupted past actions. While I was having a lunch, my tooth broke Used without a time expression, it can indicate gradual development that took place in the past. The sea was getting rough It can express an action, which began before that time and probably continued after it While I slept the rain was coming down and there was lighting & thunder Here we should add that Past continuous needs some kind of time reference Typical student errors/mistakes ?Omission of the verb to be ?Omission of the –ing ?Use of -ing with state verbs (see present continuous) ?Confusion with past simple 3). Past perfect: indicates that an action was completed (finished or "perfected") at some point in the past before something else happened Form Affirmative:e.g. He had worked Negative:e.g. She had not worked Question:e.g. Had she worked Usages The past equivalent of the present perfect:E.g. When i arrived at the restaurant the drinks were finished Completely finished actions After and When are often used to show that a past action had completely finished before another action in the past started. e.g. When he finished work, he decide to have a drink After washing the clothes, she then ironed them Activate stage teaching ideas Story telling/writing in conjunction with other past tenses. Students see a story and then retell the story backwards, starting from the end and describing what had happened before. 4). Past perfect continuous: indicates that an action was completed (finished or "perfected") at some point in the past before something else happened Form Affirmative: e.g.He had been drinking Negative: e.g.She had not been drinking Question: e.g.Had he been drinking To talk about longer actions or situations in the past that had been going on continuously up to the past moment that we are thinking about. We don't know or are not concerned with whether or not it continued after. E.g. Before dressing up, he had a shower As this tense has two auxiliary verbs 'had' and 'been' The omission of either one of those or the failure to add 'ing' to the main form are the major errors with this structure.Some problems with usage can also be expected as it can be easily confused with the past perfect (which stresses completed actions), and the past continuous. The latter implies that the action happened around a time and not just up to that time.