Meaning, Rules, Types And Examples Of Past Tense

Past Tense Meaning with Examples

In English, Past tense tells us about the activities or events that happened at the pastime. We use helping verbs such as -“was/were/had” for past tenses. For Examples:

My brother bagged a gold medal in 1000 mtr. marathon.

They were creating a new blueprint for this presentation.

Her sister had gifted her a novel before she purchased it.

I had been mastering my culinary skills for months.

Table Of Contents

Past Tense Meaning with Examples
Types, Rules and Examples of Past Tense
Past Tense Examples Practice Exercise

Types, Rules and Examples of Past Tense

Past Tense is categorized into 4 types:

a) Simple Past Tense

The simple past tense is used to reveal the habits, activities, or situations that happened in the past. There is no helping verb used in the simple past tense.

Rules and Examples of Simple Past Tense

Sentence	Rules	Examples of Simple Past Tense
Assertive	Subject + Main Verb (2nd form) + Object	i) I devoted my entire weekend to completing the 16 hours of online training. ii) I concealed the gift on the table. iii) We are planning an itinerary for a vacation in Greece. iv) He is competing in the Science Olympiad. v) The students greeted the chief guest with a bouquet.
Interrogative	Did + Subject + Main Verb (1st form) + Object	i) Did the train leave the station early? ii) Did they prepare the dinner for tonight’s reunion? iii) Did she harness her skills in the music academy? iv) Did you turn off the lamps at the doors? v) Did he build a birdhouse for his canary?

b) Past Continuous Tense

The past continuous tense depicts the actions or events that were continued in the past. The helping verbs (was/were) used in the past continuous tense tense with the base verb 1st form and by adding “ing”.

Rules and Examples of Past Continuous Tense

Sentence	Rules	Examples of Past Continuous Tense
Assertive	Subject + Helping Verb (was/were) + Main Verb (1^st form) + ing + Object	i) Preeti was inculcating moral values in the children yesterday morning. ii) They were playing a game of ice hockey at the interval. iii) He was providing a training session to the new apprentices. iv) My friend was editing the whole transcript the other day. v) When mother came, he was trying to remove a dirt stain from his shirt.
Interrogative	Helping Verb (Was/Were) + Subject + Main Verb (1^st form) + ing + Object (remaining sentence)	i) Was she elucidating the concept of algebra to her sister ? ii) Were they competing in the food festival? iii) Were you studying overnight? iv) Were we going for an outing in this summer vacation?

Important point to remember

When two activities were happening at the same time in past, then we have to refer to the past continuous tense for both activities.

For Example

While my sister was decorating the house, I was checking the guest list.

c) Past Perfect Tense

The past perfect tense is used when two events happened in the past and the first event is completed before the completion of the second event. Always use simple past tense for the second event that happened later and past perfect tense for the first event that completed earlier.

Rules and Examples of Past Perfect Tense

Sentence	Rules	Examples of Past Perfect Tense
Assertive	Subject + Helping Verb (had) + Main Verb (3^rd form) + Object (remaining part of the sentence)	i) My dog had slept before I reached home. ii) His mom had served dessert before he finished his meals. iii) Meena had gone when I came. iv) The meeting had started when she reached the office. v) The birds had eaten all the fruits before I hand-picked them.
Interrogative	Helping Verb (Had) + Subject + been + Main Verb (1^st form) + Object	i) Had he picked up the phone before the clients arrived in the meeting room? ii) Had Rishi painted his room before I painted my room? iii) Had she wiped the study table before her mother checked her revision paper? iv) Had the teacher marked Pihu’s attendance before she reached the class? v) Had she drunk a full pitcher of juice before her friend prepared another batch of lemonade?

Structure of Past Perfect Tense in Hypothetical Situations

d) Past Perfect Continuous Tense

The past perfect continuous tense is used to put stress on those activities that happened in a past at a specific time.

Rules and Examples of Past Perfect Continuous Tense

Sentence	Rules	Examples of Past Perfect Continuous Tense
Assertive	Subject + Helping Verb (had) + been + Main Verb (1^st form) + ing + Object (remaining part of the sentence) + since/for + time/duration/period	i) My teacher had been nurturing the kids since 2011. ii) Riya had been praying for his brother’s health recovery since morning. iii) He had been working on this task for six months. iv) Kriti had been extracting the data from the computer for two hours. v) He had been practicing the simulated teaching since dusk.
Interrogative	Helping Verb (Had) + Subject + been + Main Verb (1^st form) + ing + Object + since/for + time/period/duration	i) Had he been traveling by car from Delhi to Shimla since Monday? ii) Had the child been swimming in the pool for one hour? iii) Had the editor been writing the book since last winter? iv) Had she been compiling the science notes for thirty minutes? v) Had they been joining the fire drill since 10 O’clock?

Past Tense Examples Practice Exercise

Fill in the blanks with the correct past tense: i) She ____________ the data for three hours.	(had been analyzing/analyzed)
ii) While I ___________ the project, my sister ____________.	(was brainstorming, was knitting/had been brainstorming, had knitted)
iii) The junior editor ___________ the article before the senior editor ___________ the article again.	(published, had reviewed/had published, reviewed)
iv) My brother ____________ a presentation on “Climate Change” yesterday.	(prepared/had prepared)

ENGLISH-RELATED CONCEPTS: