Tense and Time | Past Tense with Examples

You have words in your head but can not make a sentence with them? Tense and Time can solve your problem after you master this chapter.

     For a non-English-speaking person, this is the most important topic of learning English grammar. 

     Many students, sometimes, in the examination hall, know the answers, but they can’t express them properly on papers only because they cannot make a proper sentence due to little knowledge of Tense and Time.

    On the other hand, we often need to share our thoughts and feelings in English on social media, on blog-post etc. and face the same problem. Tense and time tells us how to arrange words in writing or speaking English correctly.

Tense and Time

   Tense is actually the time of an action. In a sentence, only the action verb (or main verb) indicates the time of the action by its difference forms.
Tense can be divided into three categories.

1. Past tense, 
2. Present tense, 
3. Future tense.

Each tense can further be divided into four subcategories:

• Indefinite, 
• Continuous or progressive, 
• Perfect,
• Perfect-continuous.

Past Tense

Past tense includes any action that happened in the past and a state that existed in the past.

• I went to school. (Action)

• I was a student. (State of being)

The past tense is also divided into four sections –

• Past Indefinite, 
• Past Continuous, 
• Past Perfect, 
• Past Perfect Continuous.

Past Indefinite or Simple Past Tense :

The past form of the verb is used in a sentence of this tense. As-

“I wrote a letter” – in this sentence the verb 'write' is in past form (wrote), hence the tense of the action is a past tense.

Syntax-

Assertive-   

Affirmative	Negative
Subject + verb (past form) + object + others. E.g.-  • I wrote a letter. • He wrote a letter.	Subject + did not + verb (base form) + object + others. E.g.- • I did not write a letter. • He did not write a letter.

Interrogative-     

Affirmative	Negative
Did + subject + verb (basic form) + object + others + ? E.g.- • Did I write a letter? • Did he write a letter?	Use a 'not'after did to make a negative of the interrogative. E.g.- • Did not I write a letter? • Did not he write a letter?

Read more: use of Do-verb.

Other examples –

Assertive	Negative	Interrogative
We discussed the matter.	I did not like mangoes.	did we work with them?
You talked aloud.	They did not gamble.	Did not they buy the car?
She rode bike.	He did not require motivation.	Did it work properly?

Past Continuous or Past Progressive Tense:

The main verb of this tense expresses an action which was going on in the past.

E.g.- I was playing football.

-Here we can see the main verb play used in this time has an ‘-ing’ as its suffix. A be verb (was/were) is used before the main verb.

Syntax –

Assertive-   

Affirmative	Negative
Subject + be verb + (main verb+ing) + object + others.  E.g.- • The baby was crying. • I was writing a letter. • They were playing football.	Subject + was/were + not + (verb+ing) + object + others. E.g.- • I was not writing a letter. • They were not writing a letter.

Interrogative- 

Affirmative	Negative
Use the be verb at the beginning to make it an interrogative. Like- Be verb + subject + (main verb +ing) + object + ?. E.g.- • Were you reading the news paper? • Were they sowing seeds?	Use a 'not'after the be verb or after the subject. Be verb + subject + (main verb +ing) + object + ?. E.g.- • Were not you reading the news paper? • Was Ramesh not playing cricket?

More examples:

Assertive	Negative	Interrogative
I was playing foot ball.	we were not going to the house.	was I disturbing you?
You were going to do your own job.	You were not making any	Were not you getting my point?
He was cooking.	She was not watching TV.	Was Roman not fighting with Sheamus?

Read more: Be-verbs and their use.

Past Perfect Tense:

The main verb of this tense expresses a comparatively previous action between two consecutive actions.

E.g.- The patient had died before the doctor arrived.
-In this sentence, the  have verb (had) is followed by the past participle form of the main verb (die>died).

Syntax-

Assertive-   

Affirmative	Negative
Subject + had + third form of the verb + object + others (+ before + another statement.) Ex-  • We had finished our papers before the bell rang. • I had expected such behaviour from you.	Subject + had +not + third form of the verb + object + others. Ex- • We had not finished our papers before the bell rang. • I had not expected such behaviour from you.

Interrogative-     

Affirmative	Negative
Use the have verb (Had) at the beginning of the sentence. Had + subject + third form of the main verb + object + others + ? Ex- • Had he followed the instructions? • Had Bimal written the application?	Use a not after have verb (Had) or after the subject. Had + not + subject + third form of the main verb + object + others + ? Ex- • Had not he followed the instructions? • Had Ronny not written the application?

Other examples-

Assertive	Negative	Interrogative
I had finished my homework.	We had not used the formula.	Had you seen her before?
You had picked up the call.	They had eaten the chicken.	Had she opened the window?
He had made it too easy.	Tony had not blown the whistle.	Had she submitted the project in time?

Read more: Have-verbs and their use.

Past Perfect Continuous or Past Perfect Progressive Tense:

This tense carries the characteristics of both past perfect and past continuous tense. 

As in “I had been supporting the party for ten years” , there is a have verb (had) followed by the third form of the verb ‘be’ (been). So it has the features of perfect tense. 

Again, the be, which has become been, itself is the be-verb and so the succeeding main verb 'support' took an -ing. 

So, we see, the sentence has features of a continuous tense too. Hence it is called past perfect continuous tense.

Syntax-

Assertive-

Affirmative	Negative
Subject + had + been + (verb+ing) + object + for/since + time + others. Ex-  • He had been living here for three months.	Subject + had + not + been + (verb+ing) + object + for/since + time + others. Ex- • He had not been living here for three months.

Interrogative- 

Affirmative	Negative
Use the have verb (Had) at the beginning of the sentence. Had + subject + been + (main verb+ing) + object + others + ? Ex- • Had Bimal been living there for three months?	Use a not after have verb (Had) or after the subject. Had + not + subject + been + (main verb+ing) + object + others + ? Ex- • Had not Bimal been living there for three months?

Other examples:

Assertive	Negative	Interrogative
I had been reading for two hours.	He had not been living here for three months.	Had you been taking tea since last Monday?
She had been working for the children’s welfare since 2013.	They had not been playing for two years.	Had John not been talking since 5 o’clock?
We had been requesting the land-lord since morning.	I had not been sleeping for five hours?	Had not you been cheating me for three years?

Read more: Present tense.

Now you know the basic of past tense.

Thank you...