Lesson 12 – Step 3 – Past simple and past continuous

Goal

It’s time to refresh our knowledge of the past simple and the past continuous. We will learn how to use what differentiates them to express exactly what we want.

You can watch the video or go straight to the written explanation. You decide!

Once you’ve finished, you can move to step 4.

Language Discovery

Look at the words in green in the text on step 1. What do they have in common?

They are in past simple 

Look at the words in blue in the text on step 1. What do they have in common?

They are in past continuous

General notions

Use the past simple to…

1. talk about finished actions in the past when we say, know or ask when they happened.
2. talk about repeated actions in the past.

Examples:

1. I found a wallet in the street yesterday.

2. When I was 10 I went to school in the morning.

Remember:

Irregular verbs are vital for the past simple. Try to memorize as many as you can. Here’s a list of the most common ones.

Past continuous

Let’s see some examples from step 1:

Use past continuous to:

1. talk about actions in progress at a specific point in the past.
2. describe an action in progress in the past interrupted by another action (this one in the past simple). Use when or as to link the two.
3. talk about two actions in progress happening at the same time in the past. Use while to link them.
4. express what’s happening at the beginning of a story or anecdote.

Examples:

1. What were you doing last night at 8p.m.?
2. I was having lunch when my son arrived from school.
3. I was cleaning the rooms while my wife was making dinner.
4. It was raining in New York that night. I was reading a book in the living room.

Conclusion

Ready? Terrific! Let’s move on to step 3 to practise what you’ve learnt in this step.