Past Tenses
- Past Tense
gathering moments of future and throwing them into the dustbin of past
Simple Past
Used to indicate an action completed in the past. It often occurs with adverb oftime. Sometimes it is used without an adverb of time.
Used for past habits.
Eg. I played football when I was a child.
Rule: Subject + V2
Eg She wrote a letter
1. Assertive Sentences –
Subject + V2 + Object + (.)
She wrote a letter.
2. Negative Sentences-
Subject + didn’t + V1 + Object + (.)
She didn’t.write a letter.
3. Interrogative Sentences-
Did + Subject + V1 + Object + (?)
Did she write a letter?
4. Interrogative Negative Sentences-
Did + Subject + not + V1 + Object + (?)
Did she not write a letter?
Past Continuous Tense
Used to denote an action going on at some time in the past.
e.g. I was driving a car.
Rule: was/were + ing
1. Assertive Sentences –
Subject + was/were +V1+ ing + Object + (.)
She was writing a letter.
2. Negative Sentences-
Subject + was/were + not + ing + Object + (.)
She was not writing a letter.
3. Interrogative Sentences-
Was/were + Subject + ing+ Object + (?)
Was she writing a letter?
4. Interrogative Negative Sentences-
Was/were + Subject + not + ing+ Object + (?)
Was she not writing a letter?
Past Perfect Tense
Used to describe an action completed before a certain moment in the past, usually a
long time ago. If two actions happened in the past, past perfect is used to show the
action that took place earlier.
e.g. The patient had died before the doctor came.
1. Assertive Sentences –
Subject + had + V3 + Object + (.)
She had written a letter.
2. Negative Sentences-
Subject + had + not + Object + (.)
She had not written a letter.
3. Interrogative Sentences-
Had + Subject + V3 + Object + (?)
Had she written a letter?
4. Interrogative Negative Sentences-
Had + Subject + not + V3 + Object + (?)
Had she not written a letter?
Past Perfect Continuous Tense
Used to denote an action that began before a certain point in the past and continued
up to some time in past.
e.g. I had been learning English in this school for 20 days.
1. Assertive Sentences –
Subject + had been +V1 + ing + Object + (.)
She had been writing a letter.
2. Negative Sentences-
Subject + had + not been + V1+ ing + Object + (.)
She had not been writing a letter.
3. Interrogative Sentences-
Had + Subject+ been+ V1 + ing + Object + (?)
Had she been writing a letter?
4. Interrogative Negative Sentences-
Had + Subject +not + been + V1 + ing + Object + (?)
Had she not been writing a letter?
Used to denote an action going on at some time in the past.
e.g. I was driving a car.
Rule: was/were + ing
1. Assertive Sentences –
Subject + was/were +V1+ ing + Object + (.)
She was writing a letter.
2. Negative Sentences-
Subject + was/were + not + ing + Object + (.)
She was not writing a letter.
3. Interrogative Sentences-
Was/were + Subject + ing+ Object + (?)
Was she writing a letter?
4. Interrogative Negative Sentences-
Was/were + Subject + not + ing+ Object + (?)
Was she not writing a letter?
Past Perfect Tense
Used to describe an action completed before a certain moment in the past, usually a
long time ago. If two actions happened in the past, past perfect is used to show the
action that took place earlier.
e.g. The patient had died before the doctor came.
1. Assertive Sentences –
Subject + had + V3 + Object + (.)
She had written a letter.
2. Negative Sentences-
Subject + had + not + Object + (.)
She had not written a letter.
3. Interrogative Sentences-
Had + Subject + V3 + Object + (?)
Had she written a letter?
4. Interrogative Negative Sentences-
Had + Subject + not + V3 + Object + (?)
Had she not written a letter?
Past Perfect Continuous Tense
Used to denote an action that began before a certain point in the past and continued
up to some time in past.
e.g. I had been learning English in this school for 20 days.
1. Assertive Sentences –
Subject + had been +V1 + ing + Object + (.)
She had been writing a letter.
2. Negative Sentences-
Subject + had + not been + V1+ ing + Object + (.)
She had not been writing a letter.
3. Interrogative Sentences-
Had + Subject+ been+ V1 + ing + Object + (?)
Had she been writing a letter?
4. Interrogative Negative Sentences-
Had + Subject +not + been + V1 + ing + Object + (?)
Had she not been writing a letter?
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