Past TensePast Simple & Past Perfect SimplePast Progressive & Past Perfect Progressive

Past Simple vs. Past Perfect Simple

•Single or repeated past action/event

•Past state

•Often used with time expression

•Earlier past

•Reported speech

•Express regrets [with wish]

•3rd conditional

Past Simple

Single action/event

Brin and Page met at Stanford in 1995. They founded Google in 1998.

Past Simple

Repeated past event

Messi scored several hat tricks in the previous season.

Past Simple

State, situation, feeling in the past

They liked each other and became good friends.

Past Perfect Simple

Earlier past

The ship had sailed by the time we arrived.

I thought you had heard the news.

1st event 2nd event

2nd event 1st event

Past Perfect Simple

Reported speech

Direct speech

“It has rained for several days” reports the meteorology department.

Reported speech

The meteorology department reported that it had rained for several days.

Past Perfect Simple

Express regrets

I wish I had not made the wrong turn. [I made the wrong turn and it wasted my time]

She wishes she had gone to the airport on time. [However, she didn’t and she missed

the flight]

Past Perfect Simple

Third conditional [past unreal]

If + past perfect, would have + V3

If I had studied hard in high school, I would have had the scholarship. [The fact is I didn’t

study hard in high school, hence no scholarship]

Using Past Perfect Simple with Past Simple

Earlier event

By the time I got to the office, the catalogue had disappeared.

Reason or background of past event, often used with because

She was late because she had forgotten to set up an alarm clock.

Order of Events By the time ...

By the time we arrived at the party, everyone had left.

Meaning: When we arrived, no one was there. They had gone before we got there.

had left arrived

Order of Events

With Before & After, Past Perfect is not always necessary, as the order of events is obvious

We had finished our meal before we proceeded to desserts.

We finished our meal before we proceeded to desserts.

Order of Events When..is different

Past Perfect shows time gap between 2 events

When the buzzer started, she had finished her exam. [She finished her exam. A while after, the buzzer started.

Past Simple shows one event happened very soon after the other

When the buzzer started, she finished her exam. [the events happened in very close time]

Past Progressive vs. Past Perfect Progressive•Background event

•Repeated actions over a past limited period of time

•Progress at a particular time in the past

•Event beginning before the time talked about in the past

•Repeated events up to a moment in the past

Past Progressive

Background eventShe was watching the nightly news when

there was a knock on the door.

✖

== was watching ==

was

Past ProgressiveRepeated actions over a past [limited]

period of time

Jill was singing karaoke every day last week. No wonder she lost her voice.

Past simple is not used in this case because the event happened in a limited time. It was not a regular activity.

Past Progressive

Progress at a particular time in

the past

Leaves were changing colors

last Fall.

Past Perfect Progressive

Event began and kept on going before the time talked about in the past

When I came to the meeting, they had been discussing a new strategy. [The discussion happened and was ongoing until I came in]

Discussion had happened before and been going until I came in

Past Perfect Progressive

Repeated events up to a moment in the past

I had been going to the gym for months before the race. [Use past perfect

progressive to indicate the repeated action. The action stopped before the race.]

Past Perfect Simple & Progressive

Use either Past Perfect Simple or

Progressive

some verbs e.g. live, play, wear, work

Daniel had played/been playing football for

quite some time.