Past Tenses

Past tense refers to an action that completed in the past. Past tense is of four types.

1. Past Indefinite Tense:Past indefinite tense refers to an action completed in the past or past habit.
Structure: Subject +past form of Verb+object/complement. Example:
They did their work.

2.Past Continuous Tense:Past continuous tense refers to an action that was running in the past for some times.
Structure:Subject+was/were+verb(ing)+object/complement. Example:
We were playing cricket.

3. Past Perfect Tense: From the two completed actions  in the past which was completed before another,the first completed action is past perfect tense and later completed task is past indefinite tense.
Structure: Subject+had + PPV(past participle of verb)+object/complement. Example:
The patient had died before the doctor came.
Here, “the patient had died” is past perfect and “the doctor came” is past indefinite tense.
Another example, We had played cricket before the head master came.

4. Past Perfect Continuous Tense:Past perfect continuous tense refers to an action that began before a specific point in the past and continued up to that time.
Structure: Subject+had been+verb(ing)+object/complement. Example:
I had been reading a book before the rain started.
Here, ” I had been reading a book” is past perfect continuous tense and ” the rain started” is past indefinite tense.

LET'S PRACTICE
Exercise