Second person Third person Affirmative *Singular *Plural I sang yesterday. We sang yesterday. You sang yesterday. You sang yesterday.
She/He/It sang last week. Negative I didn't sing yesterday. You didn't sing yesterday. She/He/It didn't sing last week.
Interrogative Did/ Didn't I sing yesterday? Did/ Didn't you sing yesterday? Did/ Didn't she/he/it sing last week? Forms and uses of the Simple Past Tense Uses To indicate an action that was completed in the past.
Generally the adverbials of past time are used; sometimes without adverbials of time for an activity done in the past To express a habitual or regular action only in the past; It can also be expressed by using 'used to' Forms and Uses of Past Continuous Tense First person Second person Third person Affirmative *Singular *Plural I was singing. yesterday by this time. We were singing yesterday by this time. You were singing when I was playing.
You were singing when I was playing. She/He/It was singing yesterday by this time. They were singing when I was playing. Negative I wasn't singing You weren't singing She/He/It wasn't singing In conditional clauses In the indirect form of speech To express two actions, where the first action leads instantly to the second action e.g.
When the meeting ended, the staff members came out. Uses To express a state or an action that was continuing at a certain point of time in the past. It had begun before that point and was probably continuing after it. We use adverbials of time.
e.g. We were decorating the house for the birthday party in the morning. To express an action that was in progress in the past 10th - - To express an action in progress at some point of time in the past when another event took place e.g. She was cooking when the guests arrived.
To describe two or more actions continuing at the same time e.g. While I was watching T.V., he was sleeping. To indicate a frequently repeated action or persistent habit