Past Tenses: How Many Are There And How Should I Use Them?
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Past Tenses: How Many Are There And How Should I Use Them?
College of English Language in San Diego provides comprehensive English instruction, including mastering past tenses, enabling students to navigate real-world communication confidently.
English grammar is a castle made of building blocks, and you need a solid foundation to move on to more complicated aspects of the language. So, before you join a San Diego, California English language school and learn the ways of the force, let us help you get started with the past.
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“Why couldn’t there be just one, or two, tops? Why must there be four past tenses, making me hear a buzzing in my head every time I try to wrap it around these pesky past tenses. Why do I have to know them all, it’s not like I’m looking for a job at the California Department of Education?”
We hear you, and we understand your troubles, but the thing is, no tense in the English language is superfluous, and not a single one is without its uses. Chances are that you’re going to find yourself in a situation, talking about the past, missing a past tense that would be perfect for what you’re trying to say. And that’s why there are four of time - one for every occasion. But let’s see what those occasions are.
WHEN DO WE USE EACH OF THE FOUR PAST TENSES?
Now, on to when we should use each of the four past tenses.
Past Simple Tense - The basic of the Pasts, you use Past Simple Tense to describe an action that happened in the past, and finished there - “The Berlin Wall fell in 1989.”, or “She finished the quiz five minutes ago.” It’s called simple, and simple is how you should keep it.
Past Continuous Tense - If you’re trying to emphasize that a certain action lasted for some time in the past, or if you’re trying to describe two actions happening simultaneously in the past, you’ll use Past Continuous - “He was playing the guitar for three hours.”, or “My father was watching a film while I was reading a book.” Also, if an action was happening, but was interrupted, you’ll use a combination of Past Simple and Past Continuous - “I was reading a book when my brother entered the room.”.
Past Perfect Tense - If something happened in the past, but something else happened before that, and that’s what you’re trying to describe, you’ll use Past Perfect Tense, usually alongside Past Simple Tense - “She had arrived home before she called me.”, or “I had finished homework and then I played video games.”.
Past Perfect Continuous - The trickiest of the Pasts, you can use this one either to describe an action that began furthest in the past and lasted for some time, but overlaps with a later past action, or an action that caused another past action to occur - “She had been cooking dinner when I came home from work.”, or “He had been working out and his muscles became bigger.”.
HOW DO YOU USE PAST TENSE CORRECTLY?
How do you use which past tense correctly? Past Simple, Past Perfect, Past Perfect Continuous…? The good thing is that it doesn’t matter much, and that we’re not going to get into too much detail on how to use each of the past tenses adequately.
What we are going to do, however, is give you a couple of tips on how to use every tense in the English language correctly, past tenses included. The catch is the same no matter the tense you’re trying to use.
Know your grammar - Before you can even begin to use any tense, you have to know how to form it. Sorry, but there’s no way around it. You have to know that the Present Simple Tense takes an “-s” or an “-es” in third person singular, and so on. Until you know this, you can’t use any tense properly.
Know your uses - Once you learn how to form a tense, you have to learn when you should use that tense. That is why you need to know that Past Simple Tense is used for action that happened and finished in the past, and that Past Perfect Tense is used for actions that happened before a certain action in the past. Once this is done, you can start using the tenses you want to.
Practice - Then comes the practice. You’re going to be making mistakes in the beginning, and that’s normal. Just don’t get discouraged and quit. Keep at it and you’ll start mastering the tenses in no time.
Relax - Finally, the most annoying advice of all time - relax. “You’re telling me to relax, as if I don’t already know I should!”. Yes, it’s stating the obvious, but sometimes the obvious must be stated multiple times. Don’t fret about the mistakes, don’t worry about sounding uneducated, just speak and write and practice and you’ll get there sooner than you think!
“IS THERE A LANGUAGE SCHOOL IN SAN DIEGO THAT CAN TEACH ME TO USE PAST TENSES?”
Yes, there is, and it’s called College of English Language - the finest language school all of San Diego has to offer. And we don’t just teach tenses, we teach every aspect of the English language, from grammar to written and spoken communication. We leave no stone unturned! If you’re struggling to understand the commentary when visiting Petco Park for a game, come to our school and never miss a beat again!
