1. Simple Past Tense
The simple past is used to talk about a completed action in a time before now. Duration is not important. The time of the action can be in the recent past or the distant past.
Meaning and Use:
Ø To indicate an activity or a situation that began and ended at a particular time in the past. The activity or the situation has no connection with the present
e.g. : I really enjoyed my vacation last January.
Ø If a sentence contains when and has the simple past in both clauses, the action in the ‘when clause’ happens first and comes straight after another.
e.g. : She got up to investigate when she heard a strange noise.
Ø To express continuous or repeated events, now over.
e.g.: Dinosaurs lived on the earth. (but now, they don’t)
2. Past Continuous Tense
Past Continuous shows that at a time in the past, we were in the middle of an action
Meaning and Use:
Ø To show an action that crosses a past time specifically mentioned.
e.g.: I was having a bath at ten o clock.
Ø The past time is replaced by an action which ‘interrupted’ the continuous action.
e.g.: I was having a bath when he came.
Ø The past time is specified. The past continuous action fills it.
e.g.: I was having a bath from ten a clock to midnight.
Ø The period in the past is defined by another action also in the past continuous.
e.g.: I was having a bath while my mother was watching television.
Ø With ‘while’ and ‘when’, and ‘as’, the past continuous action becomes a kind of time marker for past simple actions.
e.g.: I found the coin when/while/as I was digging a garden
Ø accounting for an activity, especially when the activity is not usually permitted. The time is not specified, but understood.
e.g.: ‘What were you doing with my bike?’
‘Don’t be cross, I was only borrowing it.’
Ø Used in colloquial conversation, especially with verbs of motion, as a contracted form of ‘was going to’ for abandoned plans. (the time is over (past) but the time alluded to may still be future)
e.g.: I was taking her to the cinema tonight – but now I can’t.
Ø As a polite conversation marker. It is used to introduce a new idea, request or proposal more polite and tentatively than the present or past simple. This usage often has future reference.
e.g.: I was wondering if you could help me.
(compare: I wonder (ed) if you could help me).
Ø As a ‘forceful disclaimer’. It suggests that the idea/proposal/request has been abandoned. It may appear as a rebuke.
e.g.: I was planning to go to Padang. (but if you want me to do something else,
I won’t go).
3. Past Perfect Tense
The past perfect tense shows an activity that was completed before another activity or time in the past.
Meaning and Use:
Ø to clarify the order of two past actions. The past perfect expresses the first event, the simple past often expresses the second one.
e.g.: I had just completed the exam. I felt so relieved.
Ø The past time can be recent or distant.
e.g. :Miguel called me this morning, but I’d gone to the meeting.
Compare:
Miguel wrote me last year, but I’d moved away
Ø In sentences with before, after, by the time, and until, the past perfect is often replaced by the simple past with no difference in meaning. This is especially common with before and after.
e.g. :Sam had left before we got there (past perfect and simple past)
Sam left before we got there (simple past only)
Ø By + a time can be used with the past perfect to express the later time in the sentence.
e.g. : By noon, we had hiked two miles.
Ø Conversation marker, with verbs of thinking, hoping, etc., to convey a request or suggestion now abandoned. With emphatic use (stress on had), it is often disapproving, or expresses disappointment.
e.g. : I had hoped you would be on time (but you were late)
4. Past Perfect Continuous Tense
The past perfect continuous tense emphasizes the duration of an activity that was in progress before another activity or time in the past.
Meaning and Use:
Ø to express an activity in progress recent to another time or activity in the past.
e.g. :Her eyes were red because she had been crying.
Ø To explain the action of the verb, by giving background information about the activity.
e.g. :He could understand the film because he’d been studying French at school. (continuous previous action, with result at the time).
She came to see me because I’d been writing to her for years.
(repeated action over a given period).
Ø To convey an action which was ongoing, but over, or virtually over, when interrupted by the main verb, but whose results were still evident at that moment.
e.g. :When he came, I had been baking. (the cake were on the table, and the smell of baking in the air).
Ø A conversational marker, used to introduce an idea now abandoned. It suggests that the idea was repeatedly in the mind.
e.g. :I’d been meaning to visit her. (I thought actively many times about a visit but now it’s too late).
No comments:
Post a Comment