Past Tense Aspects

The past tense is used to show that an action was completed or done in the past.

Examples:        He went to Ibadan yesterday.

                        Palomadied four years ago.

                        We were in Ekiti last year.

                        They stayed in a hotel for weeks.

                        It was hot yesterday.

The past tense is divided into four classes namely simple past tense, past continuous tense, past perfect tense, past perfect- continuous tense.

1. The Simple Past Tense: It shows that an action was completed in the past. It expresses an action that takes in the past; used in conditional statements used to express habitual past action and to change a direct to indirect speech.

Example:   I went to school in Ogbomosho.

                        We waited for her.

                        You sand a song.

                        He learnt English.

                        She wrote a letter.

                        It rained heavily.

                        They built the house.

• Past Continuous Tense: It is used to show that an action was in progress or incomplete in the past. It is made up of was or were + verb + ing, i.e was singing or were playing

Example:   I was reading a novel.

            We were waiting for her.

            You were singing a song.

            He was learning English.

            She was writing a letter.

            It was raining heavily.

            They were building the house.

            While Iwas reading, my maid was washing the plates.

            As he was walking to the station, he tripped and fell.

• Past Perfect Tense: It is used toshow a past action that took place before another. It is made with had+past participle i.e. had eaten, had goneetc.

Example:         I had read a novel.

                        We had waited for her.

                        You had sung a song.

                        He had learnt English.

                        She had written a letter.

                        It had rained heavily.

                        They had built the house.

After I had said my prayers, I played the piano.

Everyone had gone to bed when she came home.

He told us that they had bought a new television set.

• Past Perfect Continuous Tense: It is used to show that an action had been in progress up till another action began.

It is made with had+been+past participle i.e, had been singing etc.

Examples: I had been reading a novel.

                        We had been waiting for her.

Evaluation: Write the tense of each of verb below:

Will embark, floats, shall have docked flowed, have changed, has navigated, had steered, announced, will have cleared had departed, is walking, were fighting.

Reading: Student’s Companion Junior High School by Cihrus Talbot page 84 – 92