ARMENIAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY

English project

Faculty of foreign languages

Course - 2
Semester- 1
Subject- english language practical
grammar
Lecturer- Ruzanna Xachatryan
Students - Anush Hovhannisyan, Inesa
Hovhannisyan, Anna
Shahbekyan,Markosyan Sergey
Table of Contents

[Link] is past tense?

[Link] of Past Tense
[Link] of Past Tense
[Link] of Past Tense
[Link] of Past Tense
Past Tense - Meaning,
Definition, Structure and
Types with Examples
We love to speak about what goes on in our lives. In order to be able
to express what has happened, you should know how to use the past
tense. This article will help you with what you need to know about
past tense, its meaning, definition and types. Check out the examples
and past tense verbs list to have a clear understanding of how it
works.

What Is Past Tense?

The ‘past tense’ form of a verb, as the term suggests, can be used to speak about or represent an event or
action that already happened in the past. One important point you have to keep in mind is that a number of
verbs, when used in the past tense, do not follow the general rule of adding ‘ed’ to the end of the verb to
form the past tense.

Take a look at the different definitions of past tense and the list of past tense verbs to develop a clear idea
of the same.

‘past tense’ as “the form of a verb used to describe actions in the past.” According to the Cambridge
Dictionary, the past tense form of the verb is “used to describe verb forms in many languages used for
actions that have now finished.”

Types of Past Tense

The past tense has four different forms to indicate the varied nature of actions that
happened in the past. They are:

 Simple Past Tense – used to indicate an action or event that happened in the past.
 Past Continuous Tense – used to depict an action or event that was continuing in the past.
 Past Perfect Tense – used to represent an event or action that happened in the past before
another event or action that happened in the past.
 Past Perfect Continuous Tense – used to denote an action or event that was taking place in
the past until another action or event happened in the past.

Structure of Past Tense

Itwould be even better if you also learn how the structure of a sentence
using the past tense form of the verb changes when used in the positive,
negative, interrogative or negative interrogative formats.
Examples of Past Tense
Given below are a few examples to show you how the past tense
works.
 Marcel finished his speech.
 Did they go to the hospital?
 Nandhini and Padmini were talking about you.
 Salim had found the keys before his parents found out
about it.
 Selena found out that Trinita had not been taking her
medicines for the last few weeks.
 Didn’t you know about his accident?
Irregular verbs are verbs that do not follow the normal
patterns for tense and past participle. While most English
regular verbs use the ending “-ed” for the past
tenseparticiple forms, irregular verbs each have their own
unique tense forms and past participles.

 What are irregular verbs?

You could say irregular verbs are verbs that “follow their own
rules.” Regular verbs follow the standard grammar rules of
modern English in adding “-ed” or “-d” to form the past tense
and past participle forms. Irregular verbs, however, use
completely original words for their different verb forms when
they’re the main verb of a sentence. (Just a reminder: The past
participle is the form used with the present perfect tense.)
To show you what we mean, let’s “dance” and “sing!” This pair
is a good example to see the differences: “dance” is a regular
verb, but “sing” is an irregular verb.

To conjugate “dance,” there’s no big surprise or trick; you just

use the same formula as with most other verbs. To create both
the simple past tense and past participle forms, you simply add
“-ed,” or in this case only “-d” because the base form ends
in e already.

“Sing,” however, is irregular, so the normal rules don’t work.

You can’t use “singed” because that’s an incorrect form for
verb. Instead, “sing” has both a unique past tense and also a
 unique past participle form. The only way to know how to
conjugate “sing” is to memorize its special forms.

Past Continuous tense

What Is the Past Continuous Tense?

The past continuous tense is employed in a sentence to represent an action or event

that was going on in the past. In other words, it shows the progress of the action or
event at a specific time in the past. The past continuous tense is, therefore, also called
the ‘past progressive tense’. Take a look at how different dictionaries define the past
continuous tense so that you can develop a clear idea of what it is.
Formula and Structure of the Past Continuous Tense
Conjugating a verb in the past continuous tense can be made easier if you know and
understand its formula and structure.

Here is the formula with which you can structure a sentence in the past continuous
tense.

Subject + was/were + present participle (verb+ing) +

the rest of the sentence

Now, learn how to write a positive, negative, interrogative and negative interrogative
sentence by looking at the following table and examples given.

To form a sentence in the past continuous tense, we use the

past tense of the verb “to be” (was/were) followed by the
present participle of the verb (verb + ing). The formula
is Subject + was/were + (verb + -ing) + object + other words

Examples of the Past Continuous Tense

Now, take a look at a few more examples to enrich your knowledge of
past continuous tense.
 The band was playing The Best of Me.
 I was not preparing for the test though I was scared.
 Were you not sleeping yesterday when I came home?
 I was thinking about meeting you.
 Brendon was talking to his class teacher when we were leaving home.
 The whole gang was laughing at the boy who tripped and fell down.
 My cousin was watching the new series that was released yesterday.
 My friends were waiting for me the whole day.
 The children were shouting when the teacher entered the class.
 Even at midnight, we were sitting on the balcony and talking.

Past perfect tense/ meaning, definition,

structure and used with examples

What Is the Past Perfect Tense?

The past perfect tense is slightly different in its structure and use in a sentence from
the simple past tense and the past continuous tense. The past perfect tense clearly
states that one action took place before another action in the past. It can also be said
that the past perfect tense represents a past action that took place in the past

Definition of the Past Perfect Tense

The past perfect tense, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, is defined as “ the
form of a verb that is used to show that an action had already finished when another
action happened. the past perfect tense as “the form of a verb that expresses an action
completed before a particular point in the past, formed in Englishwith had and the past
participle.” Another definition the past perfect tense is “ the form of the verb that is
used in referring to an action that was completed by a particular time in the past

Structure and Formula of the Past Perfect Tense

Learning the structure and formula of the past perfect tense will help you in a
way that you don’t expect. Obviously, anything becomes easy once you know
what it is, right?

The Past Perfect tense in English is composed of two parts: the past tense of
the verb to have (had) + the past participle of the main verb.
Using the Past Perfect Tense – Points to Remember
The past perfect tense is similar to the present perfect tense in its structure. Like
the present perfect tense, the past perfect tense also employs a helping
verb (had) and the past participle of the main verb. The only difference is that
the past perfect tense uses the same helping verb ‘had’ irrespective of the first,
second or third pronoun being used as the subject. Past participles of regular
verbs are usually the same as the past form, whereas most irregular verbs take
different spellings when used in the past form and the past participle form. If
you know the past participles correctly, you will not find any difficulty with
understanding or employing the past perfect tense in your writing and speech.

Uses of the Past Perfect Tense

The past perfect tense can be used to provide information about the following
scenarios:

 To indicate the order of more than one past event.

  To denote the time until a certain point in the past.
 To inform that an action was incomplete and not done at a specific time in the
past when a simple past action took place.

Examples of the Past Perfect Tense

1. I had not eaten at that restaurant before today.

2. Samantha hadn't had time to explain her side of the story.
3. My friends hadn't ever gone to France.
4. My friends had never gone to the USA either

Past perfect continuous tense

What Is the Past Perfect Continuous Tense?

The past perfect continuous tense is generally used in a sentence to depict an action
that started at some time in the past and continued until a specific time in the past.
It is also called the past perfect progressive tense since it refers to an action that
 had been progressing until a certain point in the past. Now, have a look at the
different definitions of the past perfect continuous tense provided by various
dictionaries.

Definition of the Past Perfect Continuous Tense

The past perfect continuous tense is generally used in a sentence to

depict an action that started at some time in the past and continued until
a specific time in the past. It is also called the past perfect progressive
tense since it refers to an action that had been progressing until a certain
point in the past.

Formula and Structure of the Past Perfect Continuous Tense

The past perfect continuous is composed of two elements - the past perfect
of the verb to be (=had been) + the present participle (base+ing).

Uses of the Past Perfect Continuous Tense

The past perfect continuous tense is used to perform two main functions. They
are:

 To denote an action that has been the cause of another action or event in
the past.
 To represent an action that started at some point in the past and continued
or progressed till a particular time in the recent past.
  Examples

 Had you been waiting long before the taxi arrived?
 We had been trying to open the door for five minutes when Jane found
her key.
 It had been raining hard for several hours and the streets were very wet.
 Her friends had been thinking of calling the police when she walked in.

- Meanin, Definition, Fo rmula, Structure and Uses with

Examples