UNIVERSIDAD TECNOLOGICA DE HONDURAS

PLANTILLA PARA DESARROLLO DE CONTENIDO

Module # 2__
I. General Information
Subject: English III CODE: INE-0206
Credit Units: 3 Module Duration: 10 days

Specific Objectives:

-The student will be able to learn the Past Progressive and Simple Past.

Skills to Develop:

Practice the correct use of the Past Progressive and Simple Past.

Brief Description of the Forum:

After reading the material, the student will be able to participate in the
discussion forum and:
1. Practice the Past Progressive and Simple Past.
Brief Description of Activities:
The student will practice conversations using the vocabulary learned.

Homework Description:
Workbook Activities from your Textbook: Open Mind Level 2A- Unit 1
Homework Template Module No. 1

II. Content

Past Progressive and Simple Past.

INTRODUCTION
III. Content Development

Past Progressive and Simple Past.

The most common use of the past progressive tense is to talk about
something that was happening around a particular time in the past. We
often use the past progressive and the simple past tense together.

1
 UNIVERSIDAD TECNOLOGICA DE HONDURAS
PLANTILLA PARA DESARROLLO DE CONTENIDO
When this happens, the past progressive describes a longer,
background action or situation and the past progressive describes
the action or events. Often, the action described by the simple past
tense interrupts the situation described by the past progressive tense.
Both the past simple and the past continuous refer to completed actions
in the past. Most of the time when we are talking about such actions, we
use the past simple. This is by far the most common way of talking
about the past. Only use the past progressive when you want to
emphasize the continuity of the action. When we use these two forms in
the same sentence, we use the past progressive to talk about the
background action and the simple past to talk about the shorter
completed action. Use the Simple Past to express the idea that an action
started and finished at a specific time in the past. Sometimes, the
speaker may not actually mention the specific time, but they do have
one specific time in mind. We use the Simple Past to list a series of
completed actions in the past. These actions happens 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th,
and so on. The Simple Past can be used with a duration which starts and
stops in the past. Duration is a longer action often indicated by
expressions such as: for two years, for five minutes, all day, all year, etc.
he Simple Past can also be used to describe a habit which stopped in the
past. It can have the same meaning as used to. To make it clear that we
are talking about a habit, we often add expressions such as: always,
often, usually, never, when I was a child, when I was younger, etc.

Pasado progresivo y pasado simple.

El uso ms comn del tiempo pasado progresivo es hablar de
algo que estaba sucediendo en torno a un momento
determinado en el pasado. A menudo usamos el pasado
progresivo y el tiempo verbal pasado simple juntos. Cuando

2
 UNIVERSIDAD TECNOLOGICA DE HONDURAS
PLANTILLA PARA DESARROLLO DE CONTENIDO

esto sucede, el pasado progresivo describe una accin ms

larga "fondo" o situacin y el pasado progresiva describe la
accin o eventos. A menudo, la accin descrita por el tiempo
pasado simple interrumpe la situacin descrita por el tiempo
pasado progresivo. Tanto el pasado simple y el pasado se
refieren a las acciones realizadas continuas en el pasado. La
mayora de las veces cuando estamos hablando de este tipo
de acciones, utilizamos el pasado simple. Esto es, con mucho,
la forma ms comn de hablar del pasado. Utilice slo el
pasado progresiva cuando se quiere hacer hincapi en la
continuidad de la accin. Cuando usamos estas dos formas en
la misma frase, utilizamos el pasado progresivo para hablar de
la accin de fondo y el pasado simple para hablar de la accin
completa ms corta. Utilizar el pasado simple de expresar la
idea de que inici una accin y termin en un momento
especfico en el pasado. A veces, el altavoz puede realmente
no mencionar el tiempo especfico, pero s tienen un tiempo
especfico en mente. Usamos el pasado simple para listar una
serie de acciones realizadas en el pasado. Estas acciones
ocurre 1, 2, 3, 4, y as sucesivamente. El pasado simple se
puede utilizar con una duracin que se inicia y se detiene en
el pasado. La duracin es una accin ya menudo indicada por
expresiones tales como: por dos aos, durante cinco minutos,
todo el da, todo el ao, etc. pasado simple que puede
tambin ser usado para describir un hbito que se detuvo en
el pasado. Puede tener el mismo significado que se utiliza
para. Para que quede claro que estamos hablando de un
hbito, a menudo nos sumamos expresiones tales como:
siempre, a menudo, por lo general, nunca, cuando yo era un
nio, cuando era ms joven, etc.

Read the examples and you will see how the correct option
is used to complete the sentences.

Using in Affirmative mode

3
 UNIVERSIDAD TECNOLOGICA DE HONDURAS
PLANTILLA PARA DESARROLLO DE CONTENIDO
1. I was studying for my last exam. He/she/it/ was studying.
We/You/They were studying.

Using in Negative mode

2. I was going out with friends. He/she/it/ wasnt going out.

We/You/They werent going out.

Using in Question mode

3. What was / doing two years ago? What was he/she/it/ doing?
What were we/you/they doing?

Note: We form the past progressive with was/were and the -ing
form of a verb.

Note: We use the past progressive to talk about something that

was in progress at a particular moment in the past.

Spelling rules for simple past regular verbs:

Most verbs: add ed (play played)

Verbs ending in e: add d (prepare prepared)

Verbs ending in consonant + -y: Change y to ied (study studied)

The verb be, has two simple past forms:

1. I/he/she/it was
2. You/we/they were

Paragraph example using the simple past

Hey, Tracy! Last week Susan and I went (go) to the Grand Canyon in
Arizona. Its incredible! The bus ride was (be) tiring, but we were (be)

4
 UNIVERSIDAD TECNOLOGICA DE HONDURAS
PLANTILLA PARA DESARROLLO DE CONTENIDO
really happy when we arrived. We stayed (stay) at a small hotel near
the canyon, and the first evening we watched the sunset over the
canyon. The next day we took (take) a tour into the canyon. We saw
(see) lots of birds and animals, and the guide explained (explain) the
geology of the canyon. We had (have) a great time on the trip.

Irregular
Regular Verbs Verbs
Base Simple Past Simple Past
form form Base form form
answer answered be was / were
carry carried eat ate
explain explained go went
like liked have had
love loved know knew
stay stayed see saw
take took

Simple Past Past Progressive

Form

Simple Past Past Progressive

irregular verbs: see 2nd column of irregular verbs past form of 'be' + ing form of verb

I spoke
I was speaking
regular verbs: verb + ed
you were speaking
I worked he / she / it was speaking
we were speaking
they were speaking

5
 UNIVERSIDAD TECNOLOGICA DE HONDURAS
PLANTILLA PARA DESARROLLO DE CONTENIDO

Exceptions

Exceptions when adding 'ed' : Exceptions when adding 'ing' :

when the final letter is e, only add d. silent e is dropped (but: does not apply for -ee)

Example: love - loved Example: come - coming

but: agree - agreeing
after a short, stressed vowel, the final consonant is
doubled after a short, stressed vowel, the final consonant is

Example: admit - admitted doubled

Example: sit - sitting

final l is always doubled in British English (not in
American English) final l is always doubled in British English (not in

Example: travel - travelled American English)

Example: travel - travelling

after a consonant, final y becomes i. (but: not after
a vowel) final ie becomes y.

Example: worry - he worried Example: lie - lying

but: play - he played

See also explanations on Simple Past and Past Progressive

Use

After another or at the same time?

Do you want to express that the actions in the past happened one after another or
at the same time?

Simple Past Past Progressive

at the same time

after another
Simon was playing on the computer while his brother was
She came home, switched on the computer and checked watching TV.
her e-mails.

New action or already in progress?

6
 UNIVERSIDAD TECNOLOGICA DE HONDURAS
PLANTILLA PARA DESARROLLO DE CONTENIDO

If you want to express that a new action happened in the middle of another action,
you need both tenses: Simple Past the new action and Past Progressive for the
action already in progress.

Simple Past Past Progressive

action already in progress

new action
While I was sitting in a meeting, (my mobile suddenly rang.)
My mobile rang (when I was sitting in a meeting.)

Only mentioning or emphasising progress?

Do you just want to mention that an action took place in the past (also used for
short actions)? Or do you want to put emphasis on the progress, e.g. that an
action was taking place at a certain time?

Simple Past Past Progressive

just mentioning emphasising progress

Colin played football yesterday. Yesterday at six o'clock, Colin was playing football.

Certain Verbs

The following verbs are usually only used in Simple Past (not in the progressive
form).
state: be, cost, fit, mean, suit
Example: We were on holiday.

possession: belong, have

Example: Sam had a cat.

senses: feel, hear, see, smell, taste, touch

Example: He felt the cold.

feelings: hate, hope, like, love, prefer, regret, want, wish

Example: Jane loved pizza.

7
 UNIVERSIDAD TECNOLOGICA DE HONDURAS
PLANTILLA PARA DESARROLLO DE CONTENIDO

brain work: believe, know, think, understand

Example: I did not understand him.

introductory clauses for direct speech: answer, ask, reply, say

Example: I am watching TV, he said.

Signal words

Simple Past Past Progressive

first when
then while
If-Satz Typ II (If I talked, ) as long as

[Link]

1. Textbook: Open Mind Level 2a, Editorial Macmillan, Edicin 2014.

2. Diccionario de Ingles / Espaol o [Link]
3. Laboratorio de Idiomas - Open Mind : [Link]