Simple past vs past continuous

SIMPLE PASTVSPAST CONTINUOUS

•Aviliana Tanujaya•Bernika Indah Agustina•Marcel Cornelis•Maria Ovelia

Formula

(+) S + V2 (-) S + did + not + V1

(?) Did + S + V1

(+)S + to be(was/were) + V ing (-) S + was/were + not + V ing

(?) Was/were + S + V ing

I/She/ He/It Was We/You/They Were

Simple Past Past Continuous

Function

Stating activities or events that occur at specific times in the past and ended sometime in the past

Stating activities/events that occur at specific times in the past without using the information provided is clear.

Used to declare activities / events taking place when the activity or other events that occurred sometime in the past by using the time information when and while

Simple Past Past Continuous

Time Signal

Use time signal such: Yesterday, Last week, Last .., Ago, Half in hour ago, When, in 1998,etc.

Use time signal such:

While

Simple Past Past Continuous

Example

(+) We played football last week

(-) We did not play football last week

(?)Did we play football last week?

(+) She was reading a magazine

(-) She was not reading a magazine

(?) Was she reading a magazine?

Simple Past Past Continuous

Exercise for Simple Past Last year I (go)________to England on

holiday. It (be)________fantastic. I (visit)________lots of interesting places.

I (be)________with two friends of mine . In the mornings we (walk)________in the

streets of London. In the evenings we (go)________to pubs. It (not / rain)__________a lot. But we (see)_________some beautiful rainbows. Where (spend / you)_________your last holiday?

Exercise for Past Continuous

Yesterday at six I (prepare)________dinner. The kids (play)________in the garden when it suddenly

began to rain. I (practice)________the guitar when he came home. We (not / cycle)________all day. While Alan (work)_________in his room, his friends

(swim)________in the pool. I tried to tell them the truth but they (not /

listen )________. What (you / do)________yesterday? Most of the time we (sit)________in the park. I (listen)_______to the radio while my sister (watch)________TV. We (study)_________English yesterday at 4:00 pm . When I phoned my friends, they (play)________monopoly. When I arrived, They (play)________cards.