Grammar-Quizzes › Verb Phrases › Verbs › Past › Past vs. Past Progressive
Jack received a speeding ticket on June 16th. It was upsetting, but he knew that he was irresponsible. He either had to pay a fine or attend traffic school. Jack attended traffic school online. He completed the course and learned about safe driving. Jack drove more carefully after that experience.
Jack was receiving a speeding ticket when a friend drove by. He felt so embarrassed. He was behaving irresponsibly. As a result, he either had to pay a fine or attend traffic school. Some friends invited him out last weekend, but he couldn't go because he was attending traffic school online. After that experience, he was driving more carefully.
PAST | ||
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A verb in the past tense indicates the action or state took place at an earlier time. Whether or not the action had duration or was repetitive is not important; it happened and ended. The action may be pinned to a time in the past (definite) or it may be timeless (indefinite). |
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ACTION WITH DEFINITE TIMING | ||
Jack received a speeding ticket on June 16th. |
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STATE OF MIND —TIMELESS | ||
Jack was irresponsible. |
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ACTION(S) WITH INDEFINITE TIMING | ||
Jack attended traffic school online. ("sometime in the past") |
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SEQUENCE OF ACTIONS; ORDERED BUT INDEFINITE TIMING | ||
Jack was irresponsible, received a ticket, and attended traffic school. |
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Jack drove more carefully after that. |
PAST PROGRESSIVE |
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A verb in the past progressive indicates (1) the duration or repetition of a past activity or event; and/or (2) relative timing of one activity to another, for example, as background activity interrupted by another activity that is the main focus. |
AN ONGOING ACTIVITY INTERRUPTED BY AN ACTION |
Jack was receiving a speeding ticket when a friend drove by. |
STATE OF MIND [TEMPORARY] |
Jack was behaving irresponsibly. (at the moment while speeding) |
ACTION WITH DURATION, DEFINITE TIMING |
Jack was attending traffic school last weekend. |
ACTION WITH REPETITION, DEFINITE TIMING |
Jack was attending traffic school last Saturday and Sunday evenings. |
Jack was driving more carefully after that. (at least for a while, temporarily)
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The past verb form is usually marked with -ed, -d, or -t (walked, loved, slept). See for irregular forms below.
The past progressive is formed with a verb group: auxiliary be and the participle verb form -ing.
traffic school – a course that one has to take to reduce a traffic fine (penalty)
He knew that he was irresponsible. (general truth) He knew that he had been irresponsible. (singular situation)
PAST |
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The use of an adverb in a past tense clause depends on the situation expressed by the verb and the rest of the clause. Compare these situations: a state (exists), achievement (occurs quickly), accomplishment (an action toward an end/goal), activity (action, has duration, is timeless). |
STATE—EXISTENCE, NO ACTION, NO TIMING |
Jack knew everyone in town. (no adverb) Jack was always an only-child. (frequency timing) Jack was active when he was young. (relative time) |
ACHIEVEMENT—MOMENTARY ACTION, ONE POINT IN TIME |
Jack crashed his new car. (no adverb) Jack recognized his stolen car on eBay. Jack crashed his new car yesterday. (specific time) Jack crashed his new car when he sneezed. (quick relative time) |
ACCOMPLISHMENT—SEMI-ENDURING ACTION DIRECTED TOWARD AN END |
Jack drove his car to the mechanic yesterday. (specific time) Jack drove his car to the mechanic when it broke down. (relative time) Jack drove his car to the mechanic to fix the brakes. (goal) |
ACTIVITY—ENDURING OR REPEITITVE ACTION, NO END TIME |
Jack drove his car for years. (duration-quantity) Jack drove a taxi during the 1990s. (duration-period) Jack drove his car to work repeatedly. (repetition) Jack always drove cars. (frequency, interval) |
PAST PROGRESSIVE |
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A verb expressing a meaning of activity—short, long, or repetitive—goes well with the progressive tense. Adverbs for specific times modify short or long activities. Adverbs for frequency, duration and repetition modify activities that are "timeless" without end times. |
STATE—EXISTENCE, NO ACTION, NO TIMING |
(States cannot be progressive. They have no action. No adverb.) See Static Verbs.
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ACHIEVEMENT—MOMENTARY ACTION, ONE POINT IN TIME |
(Achievements cannot be progressive. They occur instantaneously and at a single point in time. No Adverb.) *Jack was crashing his new car. *Jack was recognizing his stolen car on eBay. |
ACCOMPLISHMENT—SEMI-ENDURING ACTION DIRECTED TOWARD AN END |
Jack was driving his car to the mechanic yesterday. (specific time) Jack was driving his car to the mechanic when it broke down. (relative) Jack was driving his car to the mechanic to fix the brakes. (goal) |
ENDURING OR REPEITITVE ACTION, NO END TIME |
Jack was driving his car for years. (duration-quantity) Jack was driving a taxi during the 1990s. (duration-period) Jack was driving his car to work repeatedly. (repetition) Jack was always driving cars. (frequency, interval) |
*incorrect / ~awkward or borderline usage
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language classifies verbs into four kinds of situations. These situations help us understand why and when we use nonprogressive or progressive (aspect), and which adverbs go well with a particular type of situation. [I will try to summarize; however, please see the book for a more accurate description.]
a state — is a static verb (stative), no action, cannot be progressive, timeless. See Static Verbs.
an achievement — is a single momentary action (quick, punctual), almost instantaneous. (An "achievement" sounds like something worth celebrating; however, the meaning here is that the action reaches an end quickly, for example: He dropped the glass. He fell down. He recognized me. He turned on the light.)
an activity — occurs, has duration, may have repetition, has no terminal point, is "timeless", without direction to an end (atelic). He reads to his son. He plays basketball. He commutes to work.
an accomplishment — occurs, endures, and moves toward an endpoint (telic). It often includes a distance, destination, an end point for the activity (telic). He read three stories to his son. He made it to work on time. He walked a mile to a gas station. Some verbs include an end point. The ice cream melted.
(Huddleston 3 §3.2 "Kinds of Situations and Aspectuality)
DEFINITE TIMING | |
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Adverbial expressions with definite timing are used when actions can be marked on a timeline (clock/calendar); they have endpoints/goals. Compare: She was driving to work yesterday. (definite timing, it ended when she arrived at work) to She drove to work. (indefinite timing, "timeless", no endpoint, a routine). |
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BOTH PROG. & NONPROGRESSIVE | BOTH PROG. & NONPROGRESSIVE |
She was driving to work at noon. She drove to work at noon. |
She was driving to work yesterday. She drove to work yesterday. |
AT, IN, ON | THAT / LAST… |
at 6:00 AM(an earlier time—at noon yesterday, at midnight last week) |
a day ago (second, minute, hour, week, month, year) |
on January 10 (an earlier date—last Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, January 31, May 1, 2020) |
last night (week, month, winter, year) yesterday |
in January (an earlier month, year, century— the 1990s, the 19th century) |
that¹ Monday (week, month, year) those weeks (days, months, years) |
as we spoke (a relative point in time: when they arrived, as soon as she knew) |
then |
still (with a negative verb: no longer) ⇒ Used with progressive. |
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INDEFINITE TIMING | |
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Adverbial expressions with indefinite timing are used when activities or states happen "sometime", not related to a timeline. The precise time is not important. The focus is on the activity or state. These adverbs express duration (a period of time) or repetition (the interval of occurrence). |
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BOTH PROG. & NONPROGRESSIVE | BOTH PROG. & NONPROGRESSIVE |
She was driving to work constantly. She drove to work during the week. |
She was driving to work often. She drove to work often. |
DURATION | REPETITION |
temporarily(continuously, briefly, momentarily) [imperfective, ongoing] ⇒ Mostly progressive. |
repeatedly(constantly, continuously, again and again, perpetually, eternally)⇒ Switch to "keep" with progressive.³ |
for a moment (ten minutes, a week, a month, for a while², a little while, a day, forever) ⇒ Often present perfect. |
always (routinely, customarily, usually, in general, normally, often, sometimes, hardly ever, never) |
during the week (month, year, etc.) ⇒ Mostly nonprogressive. |
at night (noon, midnight, sunset) in spring (winter, summer, June, July) |
from Monday to Tuesday(1 PM to 2 PM, morning to night) |
on Mondays (Tuesday, Sundays, etc.) most days (nights, weekends, etc.) |
while it was warm(a relative period of time: when, if, whenever, before, after) before sunrise (after) |
every / each / every other (hour, day, night, week, month, year, May, spring)
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*incorrect / ~awkward or borderline usage
¹ time expressions such as that month or those month indicate time that is distant, past or perhaps future. When used with past tense, we understand the timing as past time.
² for a while (PP) – can be understood in two ways: (1) having some amount of duration, or (2) being very temporary
³ keep + verb+ing – Repetition can be expressed by using the "keep" (I keep walking. He kept smiling.) The progressive with "repeatedly" (*I am walking to class repeatedly. )sounds awkward.
ago (prep.) – is originally from "agone" meaning past. It is currently analyzed as a post-position preposition (Huddleston 7 4.2)
last (Adj) – is the superlative form of late— late, later, last.
Other past tense practice pages: Past Progressive, Mixed Progressive, Would / Used to, Reporting Source, Past Series, After v. Before v. When
SHORTER DURATION | ||
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Some verbs express activities that are short, instantaneous, detail activities. They tend to occur as singular actions in the nonprogressive or are reworded with kept as repetitive actions in the progressive. |
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He dropped his glass. *He was dropping his glass for a while. [duration] He kept dropping his glass repeatedly. [repetition] |
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ask |
answer¹ |
arrive |
begin |
break |
buy |
call |
catch |
close |
drop |
end |
exit |
fall |
finish |
give |
look |
meet |
open |
pay |
pick |
push |
put |
stand up |
tear |
turn on |
turn off |
wave |
LONGER DURATION | ||
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Other verbs express activities that are longer in duration or are repetitive. They are more complex, processes. Depending on the meaning¹ of the verb and the context, these verbs can occur as nonprogressive or progressive. |
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He cleaned up the broken glass. He was cleaning up the broken glass for a while. [duration] He was cleaning up the broken glass repeatedly. [repetition] |
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argue |
answer |
build |
carry |
come |
continue |
cry |
dress |
drink |
eat |
explain |
fight |
grow |
hope |
keep |
prepare |
rain |
read |
ride |
send |
sit |
sleep |
study |
travel |
walk |
wash |
watch |
*incorrect / ~awkward or borderline usage
¹ Some words have more than one lexical (dictionary) meaning: She answered his question. (responded or nodded) She answered his question. (explained, expounded in detail).
Short duration: He answered my question whenever I asked him something. (responded)
Long duration: He was answering his phone whenever I asked him something. (chatting)
Also see and Verb Meaning & Timing and Duration vs Completion (activity v. accomplishment).
SUBJECT | AUXILIARY VERB | PREDICATE | COMPLEMENT | |
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STATEMENT | NOUN PHRASE | AUX VERB | VERB | NP + ADV |
Jack |
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drove |
home carefully. |
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Jack and his friend |
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drove |
home carefully. |
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QUESTION | ||||
Did |
Jack |
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drive |
home carefully? |
Did |
Jack and his friend |
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drive |
home carefully? |
NEGATIVE | ||||
Jack |
didn't |
drive |
home carefully. |
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Jack and his friend |
didn't |
drive |
home carefully. |
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†EMPHASIS | ||||
Jack |
did |
drive |
home carefully. |
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Jack and his friend |
did |
drive |
home carefully. |
†Use emphasis word order when contradicting or stating that the opposite is true: — I think that Jack didn't drive carefully. — No, he did drive carefully."
Suffix –ED | FINAL E | ||
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wink |
winked |
phone |
phoned |
ask |
asked |
bike |
biked |
want |
wanted |
date |
dated |
need |
needed |
save |
saved |
FINAL -Y | CONSONANT DOUBLING | ||
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For words ending with a stressed syllable [C+short vowel+C], double the final consonant and add -ed. |
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cry |
cried |
bag |
bagged |
fry |
fried |
wed |
wedded |
dry |
dried |
pop |
popped |
try |
tried |
excel |
excelled |
C – consonant, V – vowel
Also see consonant doubling in the Spelling Workbook (free download)
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 |
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 |
trek – trekked |
kid – kidded (joked) |
spot – spotted |
sun – sunned |
PRESENT⇒ | PAST | PRESENT⇒ | PAST |
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awake |
awoke |
fall |
fell |
beat |
beat |
feel |
felt |
begin |
began |
find |
found |
bite |
bit |
forgive |
forgave |
blow |
blew |
get |
got |
bring |
brought |
go |
went |
buy |
bought |
hang |
hung/hange |
choose |
chose |
hear |
heard |
cost |
cost |
hit |
hit |
dig |
dug |
hurt |
hurt |
draw |
drew |
know |
knew |
drive |
drove |
lay |
laid |
PRESENT⇒ | PAST | PRESENT⇒ | PAST |
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let |
let |
shut |
shut |
lie |
lay |
sit |
sat |
lose |
lost |
slide |
slid |
loosen |
loosened |
spend |
spent |
meet |
met |
stand |
stood |
put |
put |
stick |
stuck |
read |
read |
swim |
swam |
ring |
rang |
teach |
taught |
run |
ran |
tell |
told |
see |
saw |
throw |
threw |
send |
sent |
wake |
woke |
shake |
shook |
wear |
wore |
Related quiz pages: Participle Practice 1 and Participle Practice 2.
ERROR |
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I worked there since a year ago. |
I was attending classes several times. |
ERROR |
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I worked there a year ago. (indefinite time) I was working there for a year. (defined period) |
I attended classes several times. (repeated activity) I was attending classes often. (routine activity) |
woman driving. pxhere, 31 Dec. 2016. CC0.
By accident, we left our tent at home. We have no idea how to get by without a tent at night. The first night, we were hanging a string between two trees and throwed a blanket over it. However, the blanket falled in our faces, so we sleeping in the car. The next night, we tide the corners of the blanket down. The blanket was stayed in place, but the mosquitoes eating us alive.
As the campers next to us leaving, we ask to buy their old tent. They agree to sold it to us for very little money. Our problem was solved. The same day, we catched fish and fryed them. We staying up late and have a good time until the camp fire went out. So we called it a night, crawl into our tent and were falling peacefully asleep.
get by (phrasal verb) – survive with the minimum; live without something
ate us alive (expression) – bit or stung us several times
solve (V) – to find a way to fix or end a problem
the fire went out – was extinguished, the flame was gone
call it a night (expression) – end the late-evening or late-night activity
crawl (V) – move on hands and knees