Past Tenses in the TOEIC®: The Method to Stop Confusing Them

The past tenses in English (past simple, past continuous, past perfect, past perfect continuous) are used to place actions, whether completed or ongoing, in the past.

In the TOEIC®, they appear very frequently in Part 5 and 6, often testing your ability to spot time indicators and understand the chronology of events.

For example, "The manager had reviewed the report before the meeting started" uses the past perfect to show that one action (reviewing) occurred before another (the meeting).

The TOEIC® tests your ability here not to confuse the auxiliary forms (did/was/had) or to ignore the time cues that tell you which tense to use.

The Four Past Tenses: Forms and Uses

Each past tense has a clearly defined role:

• The past simple expresses a specific, completed action (yesterday, last week).
• The past continuous shows an action in progress at a specific time in the past (at 3 PM yesterday).
• The past perfect establishes prior action (Action A before Action B).
• The past perfect continuous emphasizes the duration of an action before a point in the past.

Past Simple

Affirmative Form: Subject + verb-ed / irregular form

• “The manager reviewed the proposal yesterday.”

Negative Form: Subject + did not + base verb

• “The team did not submit the report on time.”

Interrogative Form: Did + subject + base verb ?

• “Did the CEO approve the budget last week?”

When to use it? The action must be finished, associated with a specific date or time in the past.

Past Continuous

Affirmative Form: Subject + was / were + verb-ing

• “The accountant was reviewing the files at 10 AM.”

Negative Form: Subject + was / were not + verb-ing

• “The employees were not attending the meeting at that time.”

Interrogative Form: Was / Were + subject + verb-ing ?

• “Were you working on the project yesterday afternoon?”

When to use it? The action must be in progress at a specific time in the past

Past Perfect

Affirmative Form: Subject + had + past participle

• “The director had prepared the slides before the presentation began.”

Negative Form: Subject + had not + past participle

• “The team had not finished the analysis before the deadline.”

Interrogative Form: Had + subject + past participle ?

• “Had the client signed the contract before the meeting?”

When to use it? The action must have occurred prior to another past action.

Past Perfect Continuous

Affirmative Form: Subject + had been + verb-ing

• “She had been working on the project for three months before the deadline.”

Negative Form: Subject + had not been + verb-ing

• “The consultant had not been reviewing the data before the error was found.”

Interrogative Form: Had + subject + been + verb-ing ?

• “Had they been negotiating for weeks before the deal closed?”

When to use it? When you want to emphasize the duration of an action before a point in the past.

Time Indicators That Determine the Tense

In the TOEIC®, time indicators are your best allies.

Certain words mandate a specific tense. If you spot them, you save 5 seconds per Part 5 question.

Yesterday, last week, ago, in 2019 → Past Simple mandatory

• "The company launched its new product last quarter."

While, at that moment, at 9 AM yesterday → Past Continuous

• "The accountant was reviewing the files at 10 AM."

Before, after, by the time, already, just → Past Perfect

• "By the time the CEO arrived, the meeting had started."

For + duration + before → Past Perfect Continuous

• "She had been working on the project for three months before the deadline."

What often happens: candidates read too quickly and miss words like "before" or "already," which are obvious signals. You must get in the habit of spotting these indicators when listening to the audio.

Checklist: Choosing the Tense in 3 Seconds

When facing a Part 5 question about past tenses, ask yourself these questions in order.

• Step 1: Is there a specific time indicator (yesterday, last year, ago)? → Past Simple
• Step 2: Is there a specific time or "while"? → Past Continuous
• Step 3: Are there two actions with chronology (before, after, by the time)? → Past Perfect
• Step 4: Is there "for + duration + before" or an emphasis on duration? → Past Perfect Continuous
• Step 5: If nothing immediately jumps out, just look at the general context.

Candidates who improve quickly share one thing: they spot the indicators in seconds.

Comparison: Past Simple vs. Past Perfect

These two tenses are the most frequently tested in Part 5. You can distinguish them this way:

Ready to Take Action?

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