Tenses in English Part 5 - Present, Past and Future Tenses and Four Patterns of the Tenses

Tenses in English – Part 5

THE PAST

v  Simple Past Tense

The Simple past is used to indicate an action completed in the past. It often occurs with adverbs or adverbs phrases of past time.

The Steamer sailed yesterday.

            I received letter a week ago.

            She left school last year.

Sometimes this tense is used without an adverb of time. In such cases time may be either implied or indicated by the context

            I learnt Hindi in Nagpur

            I didn't sleep well (i.e. last night)

           

The Simple past is also used for past habits; as,

 

            He studied many hours every day

            She always carried an umbrella.

Past continuous tense

The past continuous is used to denote an action going on at some time in the past. The time of the action may or may not be indicated

            We were listening to the radio all evening

            It was getting darker.

            The Light went out while I was reading.

            When I saw him, he was playing chess.

As in the last two examples above, the past Continuous and Simple past were used together when a new action happened in the middle of a long action. The simple Past is used for the new action

This tens as also used with always, continually, etc. for persistent habits in the past

        He was always grumbling.

Past Perfect Tense

The past perfect describes an action completed before a certain moment in the past ; as,

        I met him in New York in 1996. I had seen him last five years before.

If two action happened in the past it may be necessary to show which action happened earlier than the other. The Past Perfect is mainly used in such situations. The Simple Past is used in such situations. The Simple Past is used in one clause and the Perfect in the other; as,

        When I reached the station the train had started (so I couldn't get into the train)

          I had done my exercise when Hari came to see me.

          I had written the letter before he arrived.

Past Perfect Continuous Tense

 The Past Perfect Continuous is used for used for an action that began before a certain point    in the past and continued up to that time; as,

        At that time he had been writing a novel for two months.

        When Mr. Mukerji came to the school in 1995, Mr. Anand had already been teaching there for five years.