Past simple | LearnEnglish - British Council
Jun 11, 2024 · Learn how to use the past simple to talk about the past, and do the exercises to practise using it.
Past continuous and past simple | LearnEnglish - British Council
Oct 25, 2024 · Do you know how to use the past continuous and past simple? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation to help you. Look at these examples to see how the past continuous and past simple are used.
Past tense | LearnEnglish - British Council
Learn about the different past tense forms (past simple, past continuous and past perfect) and do the exercises to practise using them.
Talking about the past | LearnEnglish - British Council
When we talk about something that happened several times in the past, we use the past simple: Most evenings, we stayed at home and watched DVDs. Sometimes they went out for a meal.
Past continuous | LearnEnglish - LearnEnglish - British Council
If you sent money or gave money in the past, those actions just took a moment and then the actions end, so past simple should be used. They did not have a significant duration. If, however, you repeatedly gave money during that period of time, then you could use past continuous because the donations took place over a period of time.
The verb 'be' - LearnEnglish - British Council
As for the tense, it's in the present simple here, showing that students are expected to do this now. But it can be used in the past too, if the expectation was in the past (e.g. Last year, students were to email their draft to the teacher, but there's a new system this year ).
Irregular verbs | LearnEnglish - LearnEnglish - British Council
The past forms for irregular verbs are not regular -- you just have to learn them. Sometimes people study these verbs in groups based on the past simple form -- for example, 'buy', 'bring' and 'think' all have '-ought' in their past simple form: 'bought', 'brought' and 'thought'.
Past perfect | LearnEnglish - LearnEnglish - British Council
(watched = past simple; studied = past simple) Note that your examples "had watched" and "had studied" use the past perfect: (not present perfect). The past perfect isn't right here because the past perfect shows an action that happened before another past action or time.
Past habits: 'used to', 'would' and the past simple - LearnEnglish
Past simple We can always use the past simple as an alternative to used to or would to talk about past states or habits. The main difference is that the past simple doesn't emphasise the repeated or continuous nature of the action or situation.
Present simple | LearnEnglish - British Council
You can use the past simple or present simple here. The past simple means 'He said hello to you when I spoke' while the present simple can be understood as 'He says hello to you through me right now. Peter. The LearnEnglish Team