Past Simple vs. Past Continuous

In this unit you study the difference between the past simple, the past continuous and the present perfect simple, let´s see when to use them.

• Use the past simple when:

- you enumerate a series of past actions which happend one after another:

   "She came home, switched on the computer and checked her e-mails."

- you just want to mention that an action took place in the past:

   "Collin visited us yesterday."

• Use the past continuous when:

- two past actions happened at the same time:

   "Simon was playing on the computer when his brother was watching TV."

- you want to put emphasis on the progress:

  "At six o´clock Simon was playing football yesterday."

• Use both, past simple and past continuous when:

- you want to express that a new action happened in the middle of another action:

   "The telephone rang while I was having dinner."

Exercise 1: Group the sentences according to the tense used.

Exercise 2: Match the first part of the sentence to the second.

Exercise 3: Type the correct tense.

Exercise 4 and exercise 5: Put the verbs in the correct tense.

• Use the present perfect when:

- you want to put emphasis on the result:

   "I´ve written a book."

- the action has stopped recently:

   "Peter has cooked dinner today."
- finished action that has an influence on the present:

   "I have lost my keys."

- you talk about  "experience" without mentioning the time:

   "I have been to  London."

Exercise 1: Put the verbs into the right form using the present perfect.

Exericse 2:

Exercise 3: Irregular verbs

Test 1, test 2, test 3