Overview of past tenses

 

Verb tense	Use	Form	Examples
- Simple past	- To talk about actions that began and ended in the past.	Affirmative: ·         Regular verbs: Subject + verb + ed*/d**/ied***   * Most regular verbs ** Regular verbs ending in e *** Regular verbs ending in consonant + y   ·         Irregular verbs: Subject + simple past form (usually shown on the second column of tables of irregular verbs)	·         Regular verbs: Researchers investigated the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions in this institution from 2010 to 2015.           ·         Irregular verbs: Researchers came to the conclusion that mindfulness-based interventions were effective.
		Negative: Subject + did not + verb (bare infinitive)	Researchers did not come to the conclusion that mindfulness-based interventions were effective.
		Interrogative: Did + subject + verb (bare infinitive)	Did researchers come to the conclusion that mindfulness-based interventions are effective?

 

Verb tense	Use	Form	Examples
- Past progressive	- To talk about actions that were in progress at a specific time in the past.	Affirmative: Subject + was / were + verb + ing	Researchers were investigating the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions in this institution at this time last year.
		Negative: Subject + was not / were not + verb + ing	Researchers were not investigating the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions in this institution at this time last year.
		Interrogative: Was / Were + subject + verb + ing	Were researchers investigating the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions in this institution at this time last year?

 

Verb tense	Use	Form	Examples
- Past perfect	- To talk about actions that were complete before another action or time in the past.	Affirmative: Subject + had + verb (past participle)	The researchers had investigated the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions in this institution for years before they published their findings.
		Negative: Subject + had not + verb (past participle)	The researchers had not investigated the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions in this institution for a long time before they published their findings.
		Interrogative: Had + subject + verb (past participle)	Had the researchers investigated the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions in this institution for a long time before they published their findings?

 

Verb tense	Use	Form		Examples
- Past perfect progressive	- To talk about the duration of actions that were in progress before another action or time in the past.	Affirmative: Subject + had + been + verb + ing	Researchers had been investigating the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions in this institution for years when they published their findings.
		Negative: Subject + had not + been + verb + ing	Researchers had not been investigating the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions in this institution for years when they published their findings.
		Interrogative: Had + subject + been + verb + ing	Had researchers been investigating the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions in this institution for long when they published their findings?

Notes:

The examples used were adapted from Galante et al. (2018).

For timelines that illustrate the use of the different verb tenses, please refer to http://www.eslcharts.com/verb-tenses-chart.html

 

References:

Azar, B. S.; & Hagen, S. A. (2009). Understanding and Using English Grammar (4th ed.). Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall Regents.

Galante, J.; Dufour, G.; Vainre, M.; Wagner, A; Stochl, J.; Benton, A. (2018). A mindfulness-based intervention to increase resilience to stress in university students (the Mindful Student Study): a pragmatic randomised controlled trial. The Lancet Public Health. 3(2), pp.72-81. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(17)30231-1