Past Continuous Tense + Perfect

7/28/2019 Past Continuous Tense + Perfect

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By:

WAN NUR AFIFAH WAN JUSOH901110-11-5174

SEM 1 / 2010

PISMP KS

Simple Past Tense

Past Perfect Tense

Past Continuous Tense



Past Continuous Tense

Express an activity that was in

progress, was happening at pointof time in the past or at the time

of another action



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Construction: was/were + present participlePassive: was/were + being + present participle



Past continuous is typically used for an activity

that was ongoing at a certain point in the past

What were you doing when the alarm bell rang?.

I was serving dinner when Mum phoned.

This time last week I was basking in the sun on aCretan Beach.

Where was I on 10 November? Oh yes, I was

paying a visit to Taiwan.



An activity that was interrupted by a certain happening

in the simple past is in the past continuous

I was doing a tricky job on my computer when a

power cut destroyed all my data.

We were just approaching the summit whenthere was a blinding flash of lighting.

I was wondering how to deal with the problem

when an idea suck me.



The past continuous is used to indicate the situation that

was ongoing when a certain single action took place

I was only joking when I said that.

He noticed that she was smiling to herself.

I realized he was lying.I glanced at Susan, who was trying not to laugh.

The telephone rang just as the meal

was being served.



In some cases only the ongoing situation is mentioned

Hey! I was only teasing!You weren’t listening, were you?

A dog was barking somewhere along the street.

Verb that represent gradual change in a past context areoften in the past continuous

The situation was getting ridiculous.

The children were growing fast.



Repeated activity in the past can be expressed by using

forever or always with the past continuous; this is often

an expression of exasperation:

Harry was forever breaking the law and being

arrested on some charge or other.

Mr. Right was always correcting people’s

grammar, usually misguidedly.

I was forever lending him money - which I never

got back.



People often use the past continuous instead of the

simple past to avoid sounding direct and definite.

Tom and I were talking (rather than talked) about

you last night.

I was discussing (rather than discussed) this

problem earlier today with mum.

John was mentioning (rather than mentioned)

your name to me this morning.



LANGUAGE HELP

People often make tentative offers or

requests using“I was wondering…”

Example: I was wondering if you were free to have

dinner with me this evening?.



EXERCISE 1;

In the paragraph given, find the

simple past and past continuous



EXERCISE

My alarm on my clock went off shrilly at

seven o’clock yesterday morning and I woke

with a start. I bought that alarm clock at Dubai

airport twelve years ago – it has accompanied

me on many journeys and has always been

reliable.

Anyway, I leapt out of bed, had a shower,

made myself a cup of coffee, ate a bowl of

cereal, took the lift to the ground floor, rushed

along to the underground station, and stopped

to buy a news paper. The newsvendor, who was



EXERCISE

a woman, greeted me cheerfully as I handed

her the money. Then I took the elevator down

to platform down to platform 5 and caught a

train for Fulham. Twenty minutes later I arrived

t my place of work, Ambrosia Publishing.

I worked for a marketing firm for four

years; I’ve worked for nearly a year now with

Ambrosia. Previously I lived on the outskirts of

town, and had a long way to travel to work, but

I’ve moved to more convenient flat in the

centre of town.



EXERCISE

By eight-thirty I was sitting at my computer. I

was just checking a piece of text when my boss

walked over to my desk. Then he realized that I

was trying to work something out. ‘sorry,’ he

said. ‘you were concentrating’.

My boss in my last job was forever doing

things like that – he was always interrupting my

work and spoiling my concentration on some

trivial pretext. Things were evidently turning in

the same direction in my new job.



EXERCISE

‘I was wondering,’ he said, ‘if I could ask you a

favour.’ He then said he had some work that had

to be done urgently, and asked me if I could stay

Late and help him, if I wasn’t going anywhere or

doing anything in particular. As it happened I

was going to a film with my boyfriend, but that

wasn’t till eight, so I agreed to work till seven.







Here is how the past perfect is formed :

Subject had Past participle

We had decided …

Affirmative : She had given.

Negative: We hadn't asked.



Here is how the past perfect is formed :

had Subject Past participle

Interrogative: Had they arrived?

Interrogative negative: Hadn't you finished?



7:30am 8:00am

What happened first? What happened second? First : I ate breakfast. Second : I went to school. Answer : I had eaten a big breakfast before I went

to school.

I ate a big breakfast. I went to school. Now



Usage

1. To show an action that took

place at a

in the past.

Examples

• By the time we reached the

station, the bus had gone.

•By 1966 Oprah had decidedon a career.

• They had shifted out before

their house were sold.



Usage

2. To express

or about a

This is expressedwith a

that contain ‘if’.

Examples

• If I had known the truth, I

would have apologized.

•If we had trained hard, wewould have won the game.

• If we had gone to the

dinner, we would have met

our old friends.



Usage

3. To show that

had taken place

beforetook place.

Examples

• John had gone out when I

arrived in the office.

•I had saved my documentbefore the computer

crashed.

• The maid had left before

her employer returned.



Usage

4. 'Just' is used with the past

perfect to

that was only a short timenow

Examples

• The train had just left

when I arrived at the

station.• She had just left the room

when the police arrived

• I had just put the washing

out when it started to rain.



Usage

1. In some cases

with the

after the time

conjunctions

and

.

Examples

I had completed (orI completed ) my

project I was able to take a

short rest.we had unpacked (orwe unpacked ) we

explored the town.we had made

(or we made)contact with thekidnappers, we alerted thepolice.



Rules to Remember!

1. The words already and just go between and thepast participle.

Example: When Professor Lee retired, heat Beijing University for 32 years.

2. The negative of the is formed by puttingnot between and the past participle. The wordstill is often used with the negative form of the

Example: By the end of the book, I still what the author’s opinion was.



1. Grammar Express For Self-Study and ClassroomUse

Written by : Marjorie Fuchs & Margeret

BonnerCompany : Longman

2. Focus on Grammar Workbook 1

Written by : Anne Seaton & Betty KirkpatrikCompany : Learners Publishing

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Past Continuous Tense + Perfect