Past Continuous

Past Continuous

(Past Progressive)
 
1) The past continuous tense is formed by the past tense of the verb "to be" + the present participle (-ing form):

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE PRESENT PARTICIPLE (-ING FORM)

Example: to work
Affirmative
 - I was working
 - You were working
 - He was working
 - We were working
 - You were working
 - They were working 

Negative
 - I was not working
 - You were not working
 - He was not working
 - We were not working
 - You were not working
 - They were not working

Interrogative
 - Was I working?
 - Were you working?
 - Was he working?
 - Were we working?
 - Were you working?
 - Were they working?
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   a) Negative contractions: the verb "be" can be contracted with "not": "wasn't" / "weren't" 

Examples:
 - I wasn't talking to you.
 - They weren't paying attention to the speech.
--------------------

   b) Negative interrogative: positioning is different if the auxiliary is contracted or not:

Examples:
 - Was he not working?
 - Wasn't he working?'
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When to use


The past continuous is chiefly used for past actions which continued for some time but whose exact limits are not known and are not important.
It indicates uncertainty about times of starting or finishing.

1) (Without a time expression) To indicate gradual development.

Examples:
 - It was getting darker.
 - The wind was rising.
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2) (With a point in time) To express an action which began before that time and probably continued after it.

Example:
 - At eight he was having breakfast (implies that he was in the middle of breakfast at eight)
 --> Compare: "He had breakfast at eight" would imply that he started it at eight.
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3) (With a verb in the simple past instead of a time expression) To convey the idea that the action in the past continuous started before the action in the simple past and probably continued after it.

Example:
 - When I arrived Tom was talking on the phone.
 - When she knocked on my door, I was having a shower.
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4) In descriptions (atmosphere or scene).

Example:
 - A wood fire was burning on the hearth, and a cat was sleeping in front of it. A girl was playing the piano and (was) singing softly to herself. Suddenly...
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5) As a past equivalent of the present continuous:

   a) Direct speech/Indirect speech

Example:
 - He said, "I am living in London."
 --> He said he was living in London.
--------------------
   b) To express a definite future arrangement (in the past):

Example:
 - He was busy packing, for he was leaving that night. (The decision to leave had been made some time previously.)
--------------------
   c) (With "always") For a frequently repeated action in the past (annoying or unreasonable action).

Examples:
 - He was always ringing me up.
 - He was always working.
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6) As an alternative to the simple past to indicate a more casual, less deliberate action.

Example:
 - I was talking to Tom the other day.
 - From four to six Tom was washing the car.
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Note that continuous tenses are used only for apparently continuous uninterrupted actions. If we divide the action up, or say how many
times it happened, we must use the simple past.
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CLICK HERE to see verbs not normally used in the continuous tenses
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Present Continuous

Present Continuous

(Present Progressive)

Construction

1) The present continuous tense is formed with the present tense of the auxiliary verb "be" + the present participle (-ing form):
Example: to work
Affirmative
 - I am working
 - You are working
 - He is working
 - We are working
 - You are working
 - They are working
Negative
 - I am not working
 - You are not working
 - He is not working
 - We are not working
 - You are not working
 - They are not working
Interrogative
 - Am I working?
 - Are you working?
 - Is he working?
 - Are we working?
 - Are you working?
 - Are they working?
--------------------
   a) Contractions: the verb "be" can be contracted, so the present continuous of any verb can be contracted:
Examples:
Affirmative
 - I'm working
 - you're working
Negative
 - I'm not working
 - you're not (you aren't) working
 - he's not (he isn't) working
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   b) Interrogative contractions: "am, is, are" may be contracted:
Examples:
 - Why's he working
 - Where're you working?
--------------------
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The spelling of the present participle
1) When a verb ends in a single "e", this "e" is dropped before "ing":
Examples:
 - argue, arguing
 - hate, hating
 - love, loving
   a) except after "age", "dye" and "singe":
 - ageing
 - dyeing
 - singeing
   b) and except in verbs ending in "ee":
 - agree, agreeing
 - see, seeing
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2) When a verb of one syllable has one vowel and ends in a single consonant, this consonant is doubled before "ing":
Examples:
 - hit, hitting
 - run, running
 - stop, stopping
3) Verbs of two or more syllables whose last syllable contains only one vowel and ends in a single consonant double this consonant if the stress falls on the last syllable:
Examples:
 - admit, admitting
 - begin, beginning
 - prefer, preferring
but:
 - budget, budgeting
 - center, centering (stress not on the last syllable).
--------------------
4) A final "l" after a single vowel is, however, always doubled (except in American English):
Examples:
 - signal, signalling
 - travel, travelling
--------------------
5) "ing" can be added to a verb ending in "y" without affecting the spelling of the verb:
Examples:
 - carry, carrying
 - enjoy, enjoying
 - hurry, hurrying
--------------------
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When to use

1) For an action happening now: 

Examples:
 - It is raining.
 - I am not wearing a coat as it isn't cold.
 - Why are you sitting at my desk? 
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2) For an action happening about this time but not necessarily at the moment of speaking:

Examples:
 - I am reading a play by Shaw. (This may mean 'at the moment of speaking' but may also mean 'now' in a more general sense.)
 - He is teaching French and learning Greek. (He may not be doing either at the moment of speaking.)

Note: When two continuous tenses having the same subject are joined by "and", the auxiliary may be dropped before the second verb, as in the above example. 
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3) For a definite arrangement in the near future (the most usual way of expressing one's immediate plans):

Examples:
 - I'm meeting Peter tonight. He is taking me to the theatre.
 - Are you doing anything tomorrow afternoon? ~ Yes, I'm playing tennis with Ann.

Note that the time of the action must always be mentioned, as otherwise there might be confusion between present and future meanings. However, "come" and "go" can be used in this way without a time expression.
--------------------
4) Other possible uses of the present continuous:

   a) With a point in time to indicate an action which begins before this point and probably continues after it:

Example:
 - At six I am bathing the baby. (I start bathing him before six.)
--------------------
   b) With "always" (This form is used, chiefly in the affirmative):

Example:

 - He is always losing his keys.
--------------------
     b1) For a frequently repeated action, usually when the frequency annoys the speaker or seems unreasonable to him: 

Examples:
 - Tom is always going away for weekends.
 - I'm always making that mistake. 
--------------------
     b2) For an action which appears to be continuous:

Examples:
 - He's always working. (= He works the whole time)
 - He's always reading. (= He reads a lot)
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Verbs not normally used in the continuous tenses

The continuous tenses are chiefly used for deliberate actions. 

1) Verbs of the senses (involuntary actions):
 - feel, hear, see, smell,
 - notice and observe (= notice),
 - feel, look, taste (used as link verbs).
--------------------
2) Verbs expressing feelings and emotions:
 - admire (= respect),
 - adore,
 - appreciate (= value),
 - care for (= like),
 - desire,
 - detest,
 - dislike,
 - fear,
 - hate,
 - like,
 - loathe,
 - love,
 - mind (= care),
 - respect,
 - value,
 - want,
 - wish.
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3) Verbs of mental activity:
 - agree,
 - appreciate (= understand),
 - assume,
 - believe,
 - expect (= think),
 - feel (= think),
 - feel sure/certain,
 - forget,
 - know,
 - mean,
 - perceive,
 - realize,
 - recall,
 - recognize,
 - recollect,
 - remember,
 - see (= understand),
 - see through someone (= penetrate his attempt to deceive),
 - suppose,
 - think ( = have an opinion),
 - trust (= believe/have confidence in),
 - understand. 
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4) Verbs of possession:
 - belong,
 - owe,
 - own,
 - possess.

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Past Simple

Past Simple

Construction:

(the verbs "to be" and "to have" do not follow these rules)


Regular Verbs

AFFIRMATIVE

1) The Past Simple is built using the 2nd verb form. In regular verbs, the 2nd verb form is formed by adding "ed" to the infinitive:

 - Infinitive: to work
 - Past Simple: worked

The same form is used for all persons:
Example: to work, -ed, -ed
 - I worked
 - You worked
 - He worked
 - We worked
 - You worked
 - They worked
-------------------- 
2) Verbs ending in "e" add "d" only:

 - Infinitive: to love
 - Past Simple: loved
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3) When a verb of one syllable has one vowel and ends in a single consonant, this consonant is doubled before "ed"

Example: to stop 
 - I stopped the car.
--------------------
4) Verbs of two or more syllables whose last syllable contains only one vowel and ends in a single consonant double this consonant if the stress falls on the last syllable

Example: to admit
 - They admitted the error.
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5) Verbs ending in "y" following a consonant change the "y" into "i" before adding "ed":

Examples:
 - to carry: - She carried the bag.
 - to try: - I tried the machine.

NOTE: But "y" following a vowel does not change:
 -  to obey: - They obeyed the order.
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--------------------

Irregular Verbs


1) The Past Simple is built using the 2nd verb form. In irregular verbs, the 2nd verb forms vary considerably:

Examples:
 - to eat, ate, eaten: - I ate the cake.
 - to go, went, gone: - We went home.
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NEGATIVE
(Regular and Irregular)


1) The negative of regular and irregular verbs is formed with did not (didn't) + infinitive (1st form):

Examples:
The plan worked. -->(NEG) - The plan did not (didn't) work.
I went home. -->(NEG) - I did not (didn't) go home.
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INTERROGATIVE


1) The interrogative of regular and irregular verbs is formed with did + subject + infinitive:

Example:
The plan worked. -->(INT) - Did the plan work?
He went home. -->(INT) - Did he go home?
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--------------------



When to use:

The past simple tense is often used with time expressions like:

 - Yesterday
 - Last Monday (Tuesday, Wednesday, ...)
 - Last week (weekend, year, month, ...)
 - In 1985...

It can also be used with frequency adverbs for habitual actions in the past:

 - always
 - often
 - usually
 - sometimes
 - rarely
 - seldom
 - never
 - etc...
--------------------
1) For actions completed in the past:

   a) when the time is given

Examples:
 - I saw Paul yesterday.
 - Last year, I went to London.
 - Pasteur died in 1895.
--------------------
   b) when the time is asked about

Example:
 - When did you meet him?
--------------------
   c) when the action clearly took place at a definite time even though this time is not mentioned

Examples:
 - The train was ten minutes late.
 - I bought this car in Toronto.
--------------------
2) Duration in the past

   a) for an action which occupied a period of time now terminated

Examples:
 - He worked in that company for ten years. (but he does not work there now)
 - She lived in Madrid for a long time. (but she is not living there now)
--------------------
   b) for an action which occurred at a moment in a period of time now terminated

Examples:
 - My grandmother once saw Queen Victoria.
 - Did you ever hear Elvis Presley sing?
--------------------
3) For a past habit

Examples:
 - He always carried an umbrella.
 - They never drank wine.
 - He played the piano.
--------------------
4) In conditional sentences, type 2

Examples:
 - If I had a map I would lend it to you.
 - If he came into my house I would call the police.
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Present Simple

Present Simple

Construction:

(the verbs "to be" and "to have" do not follow these rules)

AFFIRMATIVE

1) The Present Simple is built using the 1st verb form.

Example: to play, -ed, -ed

 - I play tennis.
--------------------
2) In the 3rd person singular (he, she, it), an "s" must be added to the verb.

 - He plays football.
--------------------
   a) Verbs ending in "o", "x", "ss", "sh", "ch" add "es" in the 3rd person singular.

Examples:

 - to go --> He goes home late.
 - to mix --> She mixes the eggs.
 - to miss --> She misses her friends.
 - to wash --> He washes the car.
 - to watch --> He watches television.
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   b) Verbs ending in consonant and "y", the "y" changes into "i" and then add "es" in the 3rd person singular.

Example: to study, -ed, -ed

 - She studies hard every day.
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NEGATIVE


IMPORTANT
In the negative form, the main verb is in the bare infinitive: 1st form (without "s" or "es").

1) The negative form is built using an auxiliary verb + not. The auxiliary verb is the verb "to do".

Example:

 - I do not play volleyball.
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   a) For the 3rd person singular (he, she, it), the auxiliary verb ends in "es": does. Notice that the "s" or "es" is not used in the main verb, but in the auxiliary verb.

Example:

 - She does not play tennis.
--------------------
   b) You may use contracted forms:

do + not = don't
does + not = doesn't

Examples:

 - They don't live in London.
 - She doesn't live in New York.
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INTERROGATIVE


IMPORTANT
In the interrogative form, the main verb is in the bare infinitive: 1st form (without "s" or "es").

1) The interrogative form is built using an auxiliary verb: "do" (I, you, we, they) or "does" (he, she, it). The auxiliary verb ("do" or "does") comes before the subject.

Examples:

 - Do you play football?
 - Does he like sports?
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When to use: 

This tense does not tell us whether or not the action is being performed at the moment of speaking. (To talk about actions that are happening at the moment of speaking - see the Present Continuous tense.)
--------------------
The simple present tense is often used with adverbs or adverb phrases such as: 
 - always
 - frequently
 - often
 - usually
 - sometimes
 - occasionally
 - rarely
 - never
 - every week (day, month, etc...)
 - on Mondays (Tuesdays, etc...)
 - twice a year
 - etc. 
 --------------------

1) To express habitual or repeated action

The main use of the simple present tense is to express habitual actions. Use it to express the idea that an action is repeated or usual. It can be a habit, a daily event, a scheduled event or something that often happens.

Examples:  

 - He smokes. 
 - Ronaldo plays football.
 - Classes start every morning at 8 o'clock.
 - She doesn't eat meat. 
 - Do they like chocolate?
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2) To talk about facts and generalizations

It is used when we believe a fact is true (it is not important if the fact is true). It is also used to make generalizations about people and things.

Examples:

 - Dogs bark. 
 - Cats drink milk.
 - Paris is in France.
 - It rains in winter.
 - London is a small city. (True? Not important) 
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3) For a planned future action, scheduled events or series of actions

The simple present tense is also used to talk about scheduled or planned events in the near future, usually when talking about public transportation or actions that refer to a journey.


Examples:

 - We leave London at 8 o'clock tomorrow and arrive in Paris at 11.
 - The bus leaves in 2 hours. 
 - What time does the plane depart tonight?
 - The train doesn't arrive at 10 a.m., it arrives at 10 p.m.
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4) With non-continuous verbs: to express the idea that an action is happening or not happening now.

Examples of non-continuous verbs:

to be, to want, to cost, to seem, to need, to care, to owe, to exist...

to own, to belong...

to like, to love, to hate, to dislike, to fear, to enjoy...

Examples:

 - I need your help now.
 - I am home right now.
 - She wants this cake.
 - Do you have your books with you? 
--------------------

5) Other situations:

   a) when we are asking about or quoting from books.
   b) it can be used in newspaper headlines.
   c) it can be used for dramatic narrative.
   d) it is used in conditional sentences, type 1.
--------------------
--------------------

The importance of "to be" and "to have"

The importance of 

"to be" and "to have"

Why are these 2 verbs so important in English tenses?

The verbs "to be" and "to have" are probably the most important verbs you should know if you are learning English. These verbs are important not only in English language, but also in almost every other language - well, at least in all the other languages I know something about: Portuguese (ser/estar), German (sein/haben), French (être/avoir), etc...

To be and to have are irregular verbs, very irregular verbs!!! 

To start, you should learn the Simple Present and the Simple Past of these 2 verbs:

TO BE

Present Simple

Affirmative                                    Negative                              Interrogative

   I am                                               I am not                                      Am I ?

 You are                                      You are not (aren't)                        Are you ?

  He is                                          He is not (isn't)                               Is he ?

 We are                                       We are not (aren't)                         Are we ?

 You are                                      You are not (aren't)                        Are you ?

They are                                   They are not (aren't)                       Are they ?

Past Simple

Affirmative                                    Negative                              Interrogative

   I was                                        I was not (wasn't)                           Was I ?

 You were                                 You were not (weren't)                   Were you ?

  He was                                    He was not (wasn't)                        Was he ?

 We were                                  We were not (weren't)                    Were we ?

 You were                                 You were not (weren't)                   Were you ?

They were                               They were not (weren't)                 Were they ?

TO HAVE

Present Simple

Affirmative                                    Negative                              Interrogative

   I have                                       I have not (haven't)                        Have I ?

 You have                                  You have not (haven't)                    Have you ?

  He has                                      He has not (hasn't)                         Has he ?

 We have                                   We have not (haven't)                      Have we ?

 You have                                  You have not (haven't)                     Have you ?

They have                                They have not (haven't)                   Have they ?

Past Simple

Affirmative                                    Negative                              Interrogative

   I had                                        I had not (hadn't)                              Had I ?

 You had                                   You had not (hadn't)                         Had you ?

  He had                                    He had not (hadn't)                           Had he ?

 We had                                     We had not (hadn't)                         Had we ?

 You had                                    You had not (hadn't)                        Had you ?

They had                                 They had not (hadn't)                       Had they ?

They are used as auxiliary verbs in the "construction" of some tenses.

See these examples: 

• to be:

Present Continuous: 

Auxiliary ("to be" in the Present) + Present Participle (verb + ing) 

Ex: (to write, wrote, written) - I am writing a text.

Past Continuous:

Auxiliary ("to be" in the Past) + Present Participle (verb + ing) 

Ex: (to go, went, gone) - He was going home.

•  to have:

Present Perfect:

Auxiliary ("to have" in the Present) + Past Participle (3rd form of the verb)

Ex: (to eat, ate, eaten) - Paul has eaten the cake.

Past Perfect:

Auxiliary ("to have" in the Past) + Past Participle (3rd form of the verb)

Ex: (to make, made, made) - We had made the best choice.

•  to be and to have:

Present Perfect Continuous: I have been writing a text.
Past Perfect Continuous: I had been making some changes.


And we could continue... Now, you know: They are really very important!!! Learn the Present Simple and Past Simple of TO BE and TO HAVE and then go to the next step: The Present Simple Tense (ordinary verbs)

The beginning of the verbs odyssey

The beginning of the verbs odyssey!!!

Classes of verbs

There are two classes of verbs in English:

1. The auxiliary verbs (auxiliaries): to be, to have, to do; can, could, may, might, must, ought, shall, should, will, would; to need, to dare and used.
2. All other verbs, which we may call ordinary verbs:

                   to work      to sing      to play

• be, have, do, need and dare have infinitives and participles like ordinary verbs, but can, could, may, might, must, ought, shall, should, will and would have neither infinitives nor participles and therefore have only a restricted number of forms.

But before studying auxiliaries it may be helpful to consider ordinary verbs, most of whose tenses are formed with auxiliaries.

The 3 verb forms

The first thing to consider when you study English verbs is that there are 3 verb forms you should know. You may find many lists of English verbs on the Internet (usually lists of irregular verbs...) which mention these 3 verb forms. You may also click here to see MY REGULAR AND IRREGULAR VERBS LIST.

Why are they so useful?

Well,... these 3 verb forms are all you need to know to "build" all verb tenses. So, let's see:

Example: to go, went, gone (Irregular verb)

• to go is the infinitive form. 
• (1st form) go is the form of the Present Simple. (It is also the bare infinitive, which means the verb "to go" without the "to": it is used for the Future Simple and Conditional Simple)
• (2nd form) went is the form of the Past Simple.
• (3rd form) gone is the Past Participle. (It is not used by itself. It is used in Perfect tenses like the Present Perfect and the Past Perfect)

1. It is also important that you know that REGULAR VERBS have 3 verb forms too, but the 2nd and 3rd verb forms are just the verb with a regular ending: -ed

• Example: to work, -ed, -ed (which means: to work, worked, worked)
• Example: to decide, -d, -d (which means: to decide, decided, decided)

If you know these 3 verb forms, you are ready to go to the next step and see the importance of the verbs to be and to have.

My list of English Regular and Irregular Verbs

My list of English Regular and Irregular Verbs

After some time thinking about what would be my first post on this blog about "English grammar for ESL students", I decided to go directly to the most important part of grammar: VERBS.

Verbs are central in any sentence because they tell us what happens in a situation. They express action or a state of being.

Most ESL (English as a Second Language) students use lists of irregular verbs to practice verb tenses (even though verbs should be learnt in context). Anyway, those lists may sometimes be useful.

Irregular verb lists are easy to find: a quick search will provide you an amazing amount of irregular verb lists. But, what about regular verbs?

So, I decided to compile a list of REGULAR and IRREGULAR VERBS for my students and share it with the world. I'll leave a link at the bottom of this page!

Challenged by my students, I also made them an Android App (free on Google Play Store) for their Smartphones (they may forget their paper lists but they don't forget their Smartphones…). This was really a big, big challenge because I knew nothing about programming six months ago. But the Internet has all the resources we need when we really want to learn something, don't you think? 

• LIST OF REGULAR AND IRREGULAR VERBS