Past Complete
Reporting past activities or events
Past vs. Past Progressive
| PAST | PAST PROGRESSIVE |
|---|---|
Past Tense is used for a completed activity or event before the current moment. |
Past Progressive emphasizes the duration or the repetition of a past activity or event. |
Jack received a speeding ticket on June 16th. (exact time) |
Jack was receiving a speeding ticket when a friend drove by.(relative time) |
Jack didn't think responsibly. (more permanent – his character) |
Jack wasn't thinking responsibly. (temporary - at the moment while speeding) |
Jack attended traffic school online at night. (indefinite time – emphasis is on the action) |
Jack was attending traffic school online every evening for a week. (repeated activity) |
Jack daydreamed a lot. (more permanent – his character) |
Jack was daydreaming while he was driving.(relative time) |
Jack was more careful after that. (permanent) |
Jack was being more careful after that. (repeated –applying his attention) |
traffic school – a course that one has to take to reduce a traffic fine (penalty).
Past
Adverbs
Adverbs for Both Past & Past Progressive Tenses
| PAST & PAST PROGRESSIVE ADVERBS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Past tense adverbs tell us when or how frequently a past activity occurred. Emphasis is on the action rather than the time. Past is used with all the adverbs in this table (except while...) |
Past progressive adverbs tell us how frequently or how long a past activity occurred. Emphasis is on the time: duration or repetition. Past progressive is used with all the adverbs in this table (except when...) |
||||
AT, IN, ON |
AGO, LAST, THAT/THOSE |
THIS / THESE |
ADVERBS & CONJUNCTIONS |
ADVERBS OF FREQUENCY |
FOR, FROM, OVER, DURING |
A specific time in the past |
A past time based on quantity or calendar units |
A past time before the current time |
A time relative to another event or action in the past |
A time that re-occured in the past |
A time with duration in the past |
yesterday (at noon yesterday, at midnight last night) |
a minute ago (second, hour, day, week, month, year) |
today / tonight (time passed; before now) |
then (adv.) |
always (routinely, customarily, normally, as a rule, in general) |
for three weeks (quantity of time) |
at 6:00 a.m. (hour) |
six weeks ago (seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years) |
this morning (morning, evening, afternoon, week, month, year) |
when I saw it |
usually (most of the time) |
from Monday to Friday |
on January 10. (day) |
last night (week, month, year) |
these mornings(evenings, afternoons, weeks, months, years) |
*while I was there |
often (frequently, half of the time) |
during the 1960s |
in January (month) |
last Thursday (June, winter, leap-year) |
whenever I tried |
sometimes (occasionally, on occasion) |
continuously |
|
in the 1960s |
that morning (morning, evening, afternoon, week, month, year) |
if I saw them |
rarely (seldom, hardly ever) |
|
|
See Preps for Time |
those mornings(evenings, afternoons, weeks, months, years) |
|
never (not ever) |
*several times and since are not used with either tense including the progressive |
|
*Using that / those distances the speaker from the time mentioned.
Related page: Adverbs of Time | would
Common Mistakes
| ERRORS | FIXES |
|---|---|
I worked there since a year ago. |
I worked there a year ago. (indefinite time) |
I was attending classes several times. |
I attended classes several times.
(repeated activity) |
Sentence Forms
Word Order
| SENTENCE TYPE | AUXILIARY VERB | SUBJECT | AUXILIARY VERB | MAIN VERB | REST OF SENTENCE | CLAUSE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
STATEMENT
|
|
Jack |
|
drove |
home carefully. |
|
Jack and his friend |
|
drove |
home carefully. |
|
||
QUESTION |
Did |
Jack |
|
drive |
home carefully? |
|
Did |
Jack and his friend |
|
drive |
home carefully? |
|
|
*TAG QUESTION
|
|
Jack |
|
drove |
home carefully, |
didn't he? |
Jack and his friend |
|
drove |
home carefully, |
didn't they? |
||
NEGATIVE |
|
Jack |
didn't |
drive |
home carefully. |
|
Jack and his friend |
didn't |
drive |
home carefully. |
|
||
†EMPHASIS |
|
Jack |
did |
drive |
home carefully. |
|
Jack and his friend |
did |
drive |
home carefully. |
|
A tag question can also occur with a negative main sentence and a postive final question: Jack didn't drive home carefully, did he? Related page: And so / too
†Use emphasis word order when contradicting or stating that the opposite is true: "I think that Jack didn't drive home carefully." "No, hedid drive there carefully."
Past Tense
Spelling – Suffixes
Regular & Irregular Suffixes (endings)
| Suffix –ED | FINAL E | FINAL -Y | CONSONANT DOUBLING | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
For words ending with a stressed [consonant + short vowel + consonant] pattern, double the final consonant, then add -ed. |
||||
wink |
winked |
delete |
deleted |
cry |
cried |
bag |
bagged |
ask |
asked |
bike |
biked |
fry |
fried |
wed |
wedded |
want |
wanted |
date |
dated |
dry |
dried |
pop |
popped |
need |
needed |
save |
saved |
try |
tried |
excel ɪkˈsɛl/ |
excelled ɪkˈsɛld/ |
For most verbs, add the suffix 
For verbs ending in 
For verbs ending in
What is a "short" vowel?
These words contain "short" vowel sounds.
short a — /næp/ |
short e — /wɛd/ |
short i — /zɪp/ |
short o — /tʃɒp/ |
short u — /hʌg/ |
nap |
wed |
zip |
chop |
hug |
Double the final consonant before adding -ed
nap – napped |
wed – wedded |
zip – zipped |
chop – chopped |
hug – hugged |
bag – bagged |
step – stepped |
clip – clipped |
pop – popped |
rub – rubbed |
bat – batted |
beg – begged |
pit – pitted |
jog – jogged |
hum – hummed |
wrap – wrapped |
wet – wetted |
kid – kidded (joke) |
spot – spotted |
sun – sunned |
Irregular Past Tense Verb Forms
| PRESENT | PAST | PRESENT | PAST | PRESENT | PAST | PRESENT | PAST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
awake |
awoke |
fall |
fell |
let |
let |
shut |
shut |
beat |
beat |
feel |
felt |
lie |
lay |
sit |
sat |
begin |
began |
find |
found |
lose |
lost |
slide |
slid |
bite |
bit |
forgive |
forgave |
loosen |
loosened |
spend |
spent |
blow |
blew |
get |
got |
meet |
met |
stand |
stood |
bring |
brought |
go |
went |
put |
put |
stick |
stuck |
buy |
bought |
hang |
hanged / hung |
read |
read |
swim |
swam |
choose |
chose |
hear |
heard |
ring |
rang |
teach |
taught |
cost |
cost |
hit |
hit |
run |
ran |
tell |
told |
dig |
dug |
hurt |
hurt |
see |
saw |
throw |
threw |
draw |
drew |
know |
knew |
send |
sent |
wake |
woke |
drive |
drove |
lay |
laid |
shake |
shook |
wear |
wore |
Related page: Past Verb Form-practice
Practice
George's Study Abroad
Past Progressive versus Nonprogressive
- Select the word order that best completes the sentence.
- Then, click the button on the right to check your answer.