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Past tenses - Coggle Diagram
Past tenses
Past continuous
Using the past continuous emphasises that the event or activity was in progress during the past
period of time
We can use the past continuous, particularly in spoken English, when we want to emphasise that repeated actions went on for a limited and temporary period of past time
If we are not interested in how long the activity went on, we can use the past continuous instead of
the past perfect continuous.
We use past continuous when there is a long process, which might be interrupted by some short action
When we focus on an activity itself, starting before and continuing up to (and possibly beyond) a
particular point of time, rather than focusing on actions as completed events, we use continuous forms
Past Simple
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We use past simple with time clauses introduced by after, when, until, as soon as, once, by the time and the time
expressions the minute / second / moment
Past Perfect
We use past perfect if we want to refer to an event out of order - that is, an event which happened before the last event in the particular sequence
The past perfect is often used in reporting what was originally said or thought in the present perfect or
past simple
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If we talk about how many times something happened in a period up to a particular past time, we use
the past perfect
Past Perfect Continuous
We use present perfect continuous to describe an
activity in progress either at or recently before the particular time in the past
The past perfect continuous can be used to talk about a situation or activity that went on before a particular past time and (i) finished at that time, (ii) continued beyond it, or (iii) finished shortly before it
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