Let’s compare the Past Simple and Past Continuous to deepen our understanding of English grammar.
Explain it to the teacher.
Take a look at the chart. It’s a time line of what happened last Saturday. Explain it, using your own words as best as you can.
1.) Why do we use each tense?
2.) How are the Past Simple and Past Continuous different?
3.) Can you give me an example?
Okay, teacher’s turn!
Here’s why we use each tense and how they differ:
The Past Simple
1.) completed actions in the past.
For example: Frank went up to the mountains yesterday at 2PM.
2.) single events, habits and moods.
For example: Frank loved Nature when he was a child. He camped every weekend.
The Past Continuous
1.) an action that was occurring at a specific time in the past
2.) to refer to two actions occurring at the same time in the past
3.) to talk about an action that was occurring that was interrupted
4.) to mention details that aren’t especially relevant
Here is an example:
What were you doing at 7:00 AM this morning?
I get up at 7:00 – Present Simple. It means that you normally get up at this time.
I got up at 7:00 – Past Simple. It means that this is the time you got up today.
I was getting up at 7:00 – Past Continuous. It means that you were in the process of getting up.
Try out using different tenses.
How would you answer these questions?
What were you thinking about while you ate your breakfast?
What were you doing before you started our class today?
Try a quiz to Past Simple or Past Continuous quiz to practice!
Camping Quiz
Crime Quiz
Health Quiz
Parties and Celebration Quiz
Learn more.
Cambridge Dictionary
What’s next?
