Unit 6

WORKSHEET - UNIT 6

Task 1 – Identify the following tenses, giving your reason for the identification:

a) I was sleeping at 2.00AM.
Past continuous: Definite past action when time is given however it continued after 2.00AM


b) Peter went to the cinema yesterday evening.
Past simple: Past action when time was given

c) He had been living there for most of his life.
Past perfect continous: Talking about an action which has been going on continually up until the current point.


d) John and Mary hadn’t been there before.
Past perfect: The past equivalent of present perfect, Subject + had + not + past participle.


Task 2 – State as many usages as possible of the past tenses below, with an example sentence for each usage (not a sentence from the unit!).



a) Past simple
For a past action when time is given:
I ate lunch at 1pm

When the time is asked about:
When did you do that?

When the action clearly took place at a definite time although the time is not mentioned:
Jake traveled to Sydney

When the time becomes definite as the result of a question and answer in present perfect:
Where did you go? – I went to get some food – Why didn’t you tell me?

b) Past continuous
For interrupted past actions:
I was riding my bike and I fell off

Used without a time expression, it can indicate gradual development that took place in the past:
It was beginning to get cold

Express an action which began before that time and probably continued afterwards:
I was driving at lunchtime yesterday

Used as the continuous tense in descriptions:
Whilst I was picking up books from the library I received a parking ticket

c) Past perfect
The past equivalent of present perfect:
When I had looked over I saw Kelly wearing my hat

d) Past perfect continuous
Longer actions or situations which have been going on until the present time:
Jake had been saving his money for well over a year

Task 3 – State how the tenses below are formed grammatically. Explain positive, negative and question forms:

a) Past simple

For regular verbs:
Affirmative: add -d or -ed to the base form of the verb
I jumped at the chance
Negative: add ‘did not’ or ‘didn’t’ to the base form
She didn’t want to play
Question: add ‘did’ plus subject to the base form
Did you borrow my pencil?

Irregular verbs have no definite rule; the best way to learn them is to memorize them.

b) Past continuous
Past tense of the auxiliary verb + the present participle

Affirmative: Subject + was/were + verb + ing
He was eating
Negative: Subject + was/were + not + verb + ing
He wasn’t eating
Question: Was were + subject + verb + ing
Was he eating?

c) Past perfect
Past in the past or past with another viewpoint

Affirmative: Subject + had + past participle
John had already eaten
Negative: Subject + had + not + past participle
James hadn’t played before
Question: Had + subject + past participle
Had Jane done her homework?

d) Past perfect continuous
Talking about actions or situations which had been going on continuously up until the current moment

Affirmative: Subject + had + been + verb + ing
Mary had been at home making dinner

Negative: Subject + had + not + been + verb + ing
Jake hasn’t been riding
Question: Had + subject + been + verb + ing
Has George been driving?

Task 4 – Give at least 2 teaching ideas for the tenses below:


a) Past simple
We would begin the class using flash cards in a game of memory, then allow the students to study the differences between them. After the students had a decent understanding then we would move into role-play to finish the lesson.

b) Past continuous
Use student diaries or newspaper journals to talk about activities either at school or in the media (depending on student age). We would open with our own to engage the students then ask the students to do theirs. Afterwards we would ask the students to tell/narrate a story from the media presented earlier.

c) Past perfect
We would first tell the students what we had done that day (as an example) then ask the students to pair up and do the same for their partner. After the students have studied the correct sentence structure they would then tell the class what their partner did that day.

d) Past perfect continuous
This would begin by asking the students what their hobbies are and how long they’ve been involved with them then studying the correct sentence structure followed by putting them in small groups to compare their hobbies.








Task 5 – Complete the past simple form of these irregular verbs:

VERB
PAST SIMPLE
VERB
PAST SIMPLE
tell
Told
hide
Hid
be
Was/were
eat
Ate
bring
Brought
find
Found
do
Did
buy
Bought
see
Saw
go
Went


Task 6 - Complete the past participle form of the same irregular verbs:

VERB
PAST PARTICIPLE
VERB
PAST PARTICIPLE
tell
Told
hide
Hidden
be
Been
eat
Eaten
bring
Brought
find
Found
do
Done
buy
Bought
see
Seen
go
Gone


Task 7 – How would you explain the difference in structure and usage between these tenses to a low-level student? Illustrate your explanations with example sentences of your own:

a) Past simple and past continuous

i) Differences in structure:
Past simple involves the subject and an irregular verb or regular verb with ‘d’ or ‘ed’ on the end whereas past continuous entails what the subject is doing, therefore is built upon the subject, was/were and the verb with ‘ing’ at the end.

ii) Differences in usage: Past simple is something which happened at a definite point in time whereas past continuous has been happening up until the current time.

iii) Example sentences:
Past simple: John saw a fox on the way to work
Past continuous: My back has been sore all day

b) Past simple and present perfect

i) Differences in structure:
Present perfect is structured ‘Subject + auxiliary verb + main verb’ whereas past simple is ‘Subject + -e or –ed + base form of the verb’ in affirmative forms.

ii) Differences in usage:
Present Perfect:
General Experience, past actions, past actions which are still true, past action with present result

Past Simple:
Past action when time is given, when the time is asked about, when the time becomes definite as the result of a question and answer in present perfect, when the action clearly took place at a definite time although the time is not mentioned

iii) Example sentences:
Present Perfect:
I’ve been at University for 5 years

Past Simple:
Once my pet dog ran into the wall

c) Present perfect and past perfect
i) Differences in structure:
Present perfect is structured ‘Subject + auxiliary verb + main verb’ whereas past perfect is ‘Subject + had + past participle’ in affirmative forms.

ii) Differences in usage:
Present Perfect:
General Experience, past actions, past actions which are still true, past action with present result
Past Perfect:
Used for past actions in the past

iii) Example sentences:
Past Perfect:
Jonathon missed his train so he was late for school

Present Perfect:
Finally! I’ve finished all my work