What is Past Tense? Discuss about the types of Past Tense and details of each type with rules and examples.

What is Past Tense? Dicuss types of past tense in detail with rules and examples. 

What is Past Tense?

Tense is all about time. 

Observe the following sentences and notice the time of actions in all these sentences.

We played football.

You watched television.

They enjoyed our game.

You opened your book.

Your teacher asked you to learn about past tense.

Look at the words written in bold. What kind of words are they? These are some action words i.e. Verb, written in past form. Yes, this past form of verbs refers to the time of action which were done in past. 

Hence, the time of all past actions is called past tense. 

Types of Past Tense:-

Past tense is further divided into four types. These are –

• Past Indefinite Tense
• Past Continuous Tense
• Past Perfect Tense
• Past Perfect Continuous Tense.

1. Past Indefinite Tense

The time of all actions that occurred in the past is called Past Indefinite Tense. 

Past  indefinite tense is also known as Simple Past Tense.

It also includes the time of regular past activities and past habits. 

Examples are :-

 I saw the man at the bus stop.

 We ate some snacks yesterday in the evening.

 You wanted to come and meet my friend last year.

 Sikha passed the 12th Board Exam in 2001.

 Simran visited the national zoo during the last summer.

Sentence structure:-

To make a gramatically correct sentence you need to put the words in proper order. In past indefinite tense, the correct sequence is –

Subject + V2 + Object + Complement.

It means, 

1st, place the subject at the beginning.

2nd, find out the verb and use its past form ( V2) just after the subject.

3rd, select the object and put it down just after the verb. 

4th, look for any complement, if yes, write after the object.

Model Examples:-

(I) Kumar Biswas came to our city.

(II) Ronaldo gave up the sponsorship.

(III) Sunita bought this house.

(IV) They stayed here few years back.

(V) You made a delicious soup last evening.

(VI) The farmer protested against the government decision.

(VII) The former President of India, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, was a great soul.

Use of Would/Used to:-

In Past Indefinite Tense  -

Would is used for irregular past actions.

E.g.

 I would watch the IPL.

 We would enjoy the snowfall at Dehradun.

 King Charles Victor would visit the city of Paris.

‘Used to' is used for regular past actions.

E.g.

 Himanshi used tell me fables.

 Grandpa used to listen to my songs.

 Madhuri used to teach us English.

 The teacher used to help us in our assignments.

Use of Past Indefinite Tense:-

 To express actions that took place in the past.

 To express past habit.

 To express regular past action.

 To express the irregular action.

2. Past Continuous Tense

The time of an action which was in continuation for some time in the past is defined to be past continuous tense.

Examples include –

 The ball was rolling down the way.

 The cows were grassing in the field.

 A farmer was clearing weeds in the field.

 The doctors were attending the patients at the hospital.

 The captain was helping the wounded player.

Sentence structure;-

If we look closely at the above examples, we will discover that the sentence structure of past continuous tense is –

Subject + was/were + V4 ( Verb1+ing) + Object + Complement.

Use of  ‘was'

In the past continuous tense, was is used as an auxiliary verb with the following nouns and pronouns:-

I/ He / She/ It/ Singular noun + Was

For example –

 I was happy.

 He was happy.

 She was happy.

 It was happy.

 Taiwan was happy.

Use of were:-

To make sentence of past continuous tense ‘Were’ is used as an auxiliary verb with the following nouns and pronouns –

we/ you/ they/ plural noun + were

For instance –

 We were playing.

 You were playing.

 They were playing.

 Cats were playing.

More examples:-

 The hunter was gathering food in the jungle.

 The children were playing in the park.

 We were doing exercise in the morning.

 You were flying kite in the field.

3. Past Perfect Tense

The time of the action which occurred before another action in the past is called past perfect tense.

The action which took place earlier is written in past perfect tense.

The work that took place later is written in simple past.

Examples include –

 We had solved the problem before the teacher came.

 The thief had run away before the police arrived.

 The bird had flown away before he threw a stone.

 The doctor arrived after the patient had died.

 The market opened after the Sun had risen.

Sentence structure:-

Subject + Had + Past Participle form of Verb ( V3) + others.

In past perfect tense either before or after is used to join the two actions.

Examples:-

 Molina had seen the bird before it flew away.

 Karim had caught the smuggler before the police spotted him.

 The train had started before the clock struck ten.

Use of Past perfect tense:-

To express action that took place before another action in the past.

4. Past Perfect Continuous Tense.

Past Perfect Continuous Tense refers to the time of an action which was in continuation for certain time before another action or a defined time in the past.

Sentence structure:-

Subject + had + been + V4 (verb + ing)

For example-

 Mr. Paul had been teaching there for ten years.

 The old man had been living under the big tree till 2015.

 I had been planning to start a new business before getting a lucrative job.

The action which was in continuation for a said time in the past is written in past perfect continuous tense. 

The action that occurred after the first action is written in simple past.

Use of Before:-

In the past perfect continuous tense before is used to join the later action

For example

➢ We had been waiting before the train arrived. 

➢ She had been writing a story when I visited her.

➢ The doctor had been treating the patient before the father came.

➢ The student had been studying books before their exam started.

Use of past perfect  continuous tense:-

 To express action that was in continuation before another action or a defined time in the past.

Highlight of the key points:-

Use of Past indefinite tense:-

 To express actions that took place in the past

 To express past habit

 To express regular past action

 To express the irregular action, 

Use of Past continuous tense:-

 To express an action which was continuing in the past.

Use of past perfect tense:-

 To express action that took place before another action in the past.

Use of past perfect continuous tense:-

 To express action that was in continuation before another action or a defined time in the past.

To learn more visit the following pages