past tenses for ecce-level practice see oxford practice grammar intermediate grammar from oxford

Past tenses

For ECCE-level practice see Oxford Practice Grammar Intermediate

Grammar from Oxford

Find examples of past tense formsFind examples of past tense forms

“There’s a little fishing village where we used to spend our vacations when I was little. The cottage had a lovely view of the sea. My brother and I would get up early every morning and run down to the harbor to watch the fishermen unloading their catch. They were always very busy. Often, one fishing boat was going out while another one was coming in. We stopped going there when we grew older, but I still think about it from time to time.”

OxfordPractice Grammar

For ECCE-level practice see

Examples of past tense formsExamples of past tense forms

“There’s a little fishing village where we used to spend our vacations when I was little. The cottage had a lovely view of the sea. My brother and I would get up early every morning and run down to the harbor to watch the fishermen unloading their catch. They were always very busy. Often, one fishing boat was going out while another one was coming in. We stopped going there when we grew older, but I still think about it from time to time.”



• Affirmative:• Negative: • Questions:

Spelling rules for affirmative• Infinitive ending -e: add ___.• Infinitive ending consonant + vowel + consonant:

______________ and add -ed. • Infinitive ending consonant + -y: _______________

and add -ed.

past simple: form (regular verbs)

infinitive + -ed



did not (didn’t) + infinitive without to

Did + subject + infinitive without to

past simple: form (regular verbs)


Spelling rules for affirmative• Infinitive ending -e: add -d.• Infinitive ending consonant + vowel + consonant:

double the final consonant and add -ed. • Infinitive ending consonant + -y: change the -y to an

-i and add -ed.



infinitive + -ed

Did not (didn’t) + infinitive without to

Did + subject + infinitive without to

past simple: form (irregular verbs)

Negatives and questions are formed in the same way as for regular verbs. In the affirmative, many forms are irregular and must be learned individually, e.g., go > went, buy > bought.



What did you do over the weekend?

I went to the movies, but I didn’t see a film. I met a friend and we went for coffee.

past simple: use

• to talk about past states or completed actions, often with a past-time expression such as last

• to talk about past habits or routines, often with an adverb of frequency

“Did you eat all that pizza?”“He walked five miles every day.”



used to and would

used to and would are followed by infinitive without to.• both can be used to describe repeated past actions

and routines, in a similar way to the past simple

When I was younger, people used to / would knit all their own sweaters. Now most people buy them.



used to and would

“My mother used to be an actress. She gave it up when she married my dad.”

“Grandpa was very superstitious. He would never open an umbrella indoors.”

• used to emphasizes a routine that no longer takes place• would describes typical past behavior

___________ can describe situations and states in the past. We can’t use __________ in this way.



Used to

would

past continuous: form




Was / were + -ing

Was / were + not (wasn’t / weren’t) + -ing

Was / were + subject + -ing

Where were you going when I saw you earlier?

I wasn’t going anywhere nice. I was visiting a friend in the hospital.

past continuous: use• to talk about a continuous past situation in progress

at a particular time in the past• to talk about a background to a second situation or

event (when the past simple is used in parallel).

“At two o’clock today, I was having lunch with Molly.”“We weren’t sitting by the window when it broke.”“While I was waiting for you, I finished the crossword

puzzle.”

• We can use as, when and _______ to introduce a longer background action.



while

past continuous and past simple: use

• two past simple verbs can be used to refer to one action that follows another

Compare:“John looked at me when I called his name.” (= John looked

after I called him.) “John was looking at at me when I called his name.” (=

John started looking before I called him.) • The ___________ is not used with stative verbs such as

be or know.



past continuous

Correct or incorrect?

• Sarah was listening to some loud music when I got in. I could hear it from the next street!

• As I was waiting for my interview, I got more and more nervous.

• When we lived near the sea, we went swimming every day.

• My parents would be in a band together, but that was a long time ago.



Corrected

• As I was waiting for my interview, I got more and more nervous.

• My parents were in a band together, but that was a long time ago.



Find examples of perfect tense formsFind examples of perfect tense forms

“I’ve been in my current job for nearly five years. That’s really a long time at this company. They tend to give you long-service awards if you’ve been working here for as little as ten years! Things have changed a lot since my grandfather’s day. By the time he retired, he’d been working for the same company for forty years and had never felt the need to look for other employment that entire time.”



Examples of perfect tense formsExamples of perfect tense forms

“I’ve been in my current job for nearly five years. That’s really a long time at this company. They tend to give you long-service awards if you’ve been working here for as little as ten years! Things have changed a lot since my grandfather’s day. By the time he retired, he’d been working for the same company for forty years and had never felt the need to look for other employment that entire time.”



present perfect simple: form

• Affirmative: • Negative:• Questions:

• The past participle form of regular verbs is often the same as the past simple form. Irregular forms must be learned individually, e.g., see > saw > ______ , eat > ate > ______.



Have / has (‘ve / ‘s) + past participle

Have / has + not (haven’t / hasn’t) + past participle

Have / has + subject + past participle

seen eaten

present perfect simple: use

• to talk about past actions or states that have a result in the present, or which have happened recently

Someone’s broken the vase.




• to talk about life experiences, often with ever or never



Have you ever done bungee jumping?

No, I’ve never wanted to do that. I’ve tried paragliding though.


• with since or for, to describe a period of time that has passed

“I’ve had this computer since last year.”“We haven’t lived in this town for very long.”• We use ______ + a period of time and ______

+ a specific point in time.



for since

present perfect and past simple

•for can be used after the past simple or present perfect simple; since is not used after the past simple•ago is used with the past simple

“He lived in France for a few years in the 1990s.”“He lived in France a few years ago.”NOT “He lived in France since 2008.”



present perfect and past simple

With the present perfect simple, we can use:

•“unfinished” time expressions such as so far, and until now•other time expressions such as still, already, and yet



present perfect continuous: form

• Affirmative: • Negative:• Questions:



Have / has (‘ve / ‘s) been + ing form

Have / has (‘ve / ‘s) not been + ing form

Have / has + subject + been + ing form

I’ve been washing dishes all morning, and I’m still not finished!

present perfect continuous: use

• to talk about an action that started in the past and continues up to the present

• to give a reason for a present situation• with for and since to talk about how long something

has been happening for“The situation has been getting worse, and shows no

signs of improvement.”“I’m cold because I’ve been working in the basement.”“It has been snowing for ten hours / since last night.”



Correct or incorrect?

• After our argument, Tina didn’t speak to me for ages.

• I saved 250 dollars towards my new bike so far. I only need another $50.

• She has been working here since just before Thanksgiving, 2005.

• I saw Paul Taylor recently. He didn’t change much since we last saw him.



Corrected.

•I have saved 250 dollars towards my new bike so far. I only need another $50.

•I saw Paul Taylor recently. He hasn’t changed much since we last saw him.



past perfect simple: form

• Affirmative:• Negative:• Questions:



Had (‘d) + past participle

Had not (hadn’t) + past participle

Had + subject + past participle

Had you seen or heard anything suspicious before the night in question?

No, we’d always thought this was such a safe area. There hadn’t been any burglaries before this happened.

past perfect simple: use

• to talk about an earlier past, before another time period or action

• after verbs of thinking and saying• with expressions such as when, as soon as, by the

time“She was worried because Jo hadn’t called all day.” “He realized that he had forgotten to pack his pajamas.”“By the time I had finished reviewing everything, it was

midnight.”



past perfect continuous: form

• Affirmative:• Negative:• Questions:

I was at school when I suddenly felt dizzy and fainted. In fact, I hadn’t been feeling very well earlier because I’d been playing volleyball all morning.



Had (‘d) + been + -ing

Had not (hadn’t) + been + -ing

Had + subject + been + -ing

past perfect continuous: use• to describe a past action occurring before

something else happened• to explain a past situation by describing what was

happening beforehand

“Last week, Tim returned from Madrid, where he had been studying Spanish.”

“Ryan’s mother wasn’t pleased that he had been playing football in the mud and rain.”

• Remember that we can’t use stative verbs such as be and know with a __________ form.



continuous

Select the correct sentence

A I’m sick of paint! I’ve decorated the living room all morning.

B I’m sick of paint! I’ve been decorating the living room all morning.

A Leo started his novel in May last year, and by the time we met next, he had been writing it.

B Leo started his novel in May last year, and by the time we met next, he had written it.



past tenses for ecce-level practice see oxford practice grammar intermediate grammar from oxford

Documents

level practice

oxford slide

didnt infinitive

subject infinitive

past tenses

past states

past habits

pasttime expression