Past Simple and Past Continuous Exercises

Past Simple and Past Continuous

The Past Simple and the Past Continuous are two tenses we use to talk about actions or events in the past. Let's look at how and when to use each one.

Past Simple

We use the Past Simple to talk about completed actions in the past.

• Form: Subject + verb in past form (regular: worked, irregular: went)
• Examples:
  • I visited my grandmother yesterday.
  • They watched a movie last night.

Past Continuous

We use the Past Continuous to describe an action that was in progress at a specific time in the past. It often sets the background for another shorter action.

• Form: Subject + was/were + verb + -ing
• Examples:
  • I was studying at 8 PM.
  • They were playing football when it started to rain.

Using Past Simple & Past Continuous

We often use the Past Continuous for the longer action and the Past Simple for the shorter action that interrupts it.

• She was cooking dinner when the phone rang.
• We were walking to school when it started to rain.

Quick Tips

• Use Past Simple for things that happened and finished in the past.
• Use Past Continuous for actions happening around a time or interrupted by another action.
• Look for time expressions to help decide which tense to use.
• When combining the two tenses, use Past Continuous for the longer action, and Past Simple for the shorter action.