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 completed or ongoing actions in the past.

In the TOEIC®, they appear very frequently in Parts 5 and 6, especially to test your ability to spot time cues 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 (the review) happened 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 Usage

Each past tense has a well-defined role:

• The past simple expresses a punctual, 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 anteriority (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.”
  L’manager a révisé la proposition hier.

Negative Form: Subject + did not + base verb

• “The team did not submit the report on time.”
  L’équipe n’a pas soumis le rapport à temps.

Interrogative Form: Did + subject + base verb ?

• “Did the CEO approve the budget last week?”
  Le PDG a-t-il approuvé le budget la semaine dernière ?

When to use it? The action must be completed, 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.”
  Le comptable révisait les dossiers à 10h.

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

• “The employees were not attending the meeting at that time.”
  Les employés n’assistaient pas à la réunion à ce moment-là.

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

• “Were you working on the project yesterday afternoon?”
  Travailliez-vous sur le projet hier après-midi ?

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

Past Perfect

Affirmative Form: Subject + had + past participle

• “The director had prepared the slides before the presentation began.”
  Le directeur avait préparé les slides avant le début de la présentation.

Negative Form: Subject + had not + past participle

• “The team had not finished the analysis before the deadline.”
  L’équipe n’avait pas terminé l’analyse avant la date limite.

Interrogative Form: Had + subject + past participle ?

• “Had the client signed the contract before the meeting?”
  Le client avait-il signé le contrat avant la réunion ?

When to use it? The action must be prior/earlier than another action in the past.

Past Perfect Continuous

Affirmative Form: Subject + had been + verb-ing

• “She had been working on the project for three months before the deadline.”
  Elle travaillait sur le projet depuis trois mois avant la date limite.

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

• “The consultant had not been reviewing the data before the error was found.”
  Le consultant ne révisait pas les données avant que l’erreur ne soit trouvée.

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

• “Had they been negotiating for weeks before the deal closed?”
  Négociaient-ils depuis des semaines avant la conclusion de l’accord ?

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

Time Cues That Determine the Tense

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

Certain words require 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."
  L'entreprise a lancé son nouveau produit le trimestre dernier.

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

• "The accountant was reviewing the files at 10 AM."
  Le comptable révisait les dossiers à 10h.

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

• "By the time the CEO arrived, the meeting had started."
  Au moment où le PDG est arrivé, la réunion avait déjà commencé.

For + duration + before → Past Perfect Continuous

• "She had been working on the project for three months before the deadline."
  Elle travaillait sur le projet depuis trois mois avant la date limite.

What you often see: candidates read too quickly and miss the words "before" or "already," which are obvious signals. You must get used to spotting these cues when listening to the audio.

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Checklist: Which Tense to Choose in 3 Seconds

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

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

Candidates who progress quickly have one thing in common: they spot the cues in seconds.

Comparison: Past Simple vs. Past Perfect

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

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Ready to Take Action?

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