Past Tenses in English for the TOEIC® Exam: The Complete Guide to Avoiding All Mistakes

English Past Tenses

The English language has 2 main forms for expressing the past:

• The Simple Past: Last summer, I traveled to Japan
• The Past Continuous: I was working when she called

Technically, the Present Perfect and Past Perfect can also express past notions, but these forms are covered in other dedicated articles.

Note: The terms 'prétérit' and 'simple past' refer to exactly the same verb form; they are simply two different names for it.

The same applies to 'past continuous,' 'progressive past,' and 'prétérit continu,' which are all perfect synonyms referring to the same grammatical structure.

Usage Situations

Each of these two forms corresponds to specific uses and contexts.

The Simple Past is used to express:

• a completed and finished action: Two years ago, I visited New York.
• historical facts or realities: In ancient Rome, citizens spoke Latin.
• a past habit: During my childhood, I read comics every evening.
• a sequence of past events: She opened the door, switched off the lights, and left the building.

The Past Continuous is used to express:

• an action occurring at a specific moment in the past: At 9 AM yesterday, I was attending a meeting.
• two parallel actions in the past: While she was preparing lunch, he was cleaning the house.
• an action interrupted by a sudden event: I was taking a shower when someone knocked on the door.
• the setting or atmosphere of a narrative: The wind was blowing, and dark clouds were gathering in the sky.

In-Depth Resources

To master these structures perfectly, discover our detailed courses that explore each form:

1. The Simple Past for Success in the TOEIC®
2. The Past Continuous to Excel in the TOEIC®
3. Comparison Between the Simple Past and the Past Continuous