When I was a child, I
visited
my grandma every weekend.
(habit)
When my brother was young, he
liked
spinach.
(state)
Where
did
you
go
to primary school?
(habit, where the implied period of time is
when you went to primary school
)
Quotes:
The fishing was good; it was the catching that was bad. - A. K. Best
I had been told that the training procedure with cats was difficult. It's not. Mine had me trained in two days. - Bill Dana
Related topics:
Modals to express habits: WILL, WOULD, USED TO
Past continuous for frequently repeated actions in the past
Present simple for present habits and states
Past simple for actions happening over a period of time in the past
The past simple is used for actions that took place over a complete period of time in the past. This period is expressed with a time expression; however, the exact time may or may not be mentioned:
Pterodactyls
existed
between 1.5 billion and 70 million years ago.
From 1981 to 1984, he
worked
for a large multinational company.
Last week, I
stayed
with my sister for a few days.
(the exact time is not mentioned)
Joe
lived
in Boston for ten years.
(the exact time is not mentioned)
Related topics:
Present perfect with FOR and SINCE
Past simple to express a point in the past
The past simple is used to refer to a point in the past at which another event was in progress, had been completed or had been going on for some time. The past simple thus serves as a time marker in subordinate time clauses within complex sentences, where the main clause is in the past continuous, past perfect or past perfect continuous tense:
When I
called
her, she was studying.
By the time we
reached
the top, it had stopped raining.
When I
got
to her house, she had been waiting for hours.
Related topics:
Past continuous for actions in progress at a specific point in the past
Past perfect for actions completed before a point in the past
Present perfect with FOR and SINCE
IT'S (BEEN) + DAYS / WEEKS / MONTHS / etc. + SINCE
The auxiliary DID for emphasis
In the past simple, the auxiliary did followed by the bare infinitive form of the main verb can be used in affirmative sentences to express emphasis. In speech, the auxiliary is stressed:
I
did want
to tell you, but I didn't know how.
He
did arrive
late.
She
did go
to a school, but she is not nationally certified.
Related topics:
Form: past simple
DO, DOES, DID + bare infinitive
Past continuous
Form: past continuous
Past continuous for actions in progress at a specific point in the past
Past continuous for actions happening over a period of time in the past
Past continuous for gradual development
Past continuous for frequently repeated actions in the past
Past continuous for temporary habitual actions in the past
Form: past continuous
WAS/WERE + PRESENT PARTICIPLE (VERB-ING)
The past continuous (also called the past progressive) is formed with was/were (the past tense forms of be) + the present participle -ing form of the verb.
Affirmative
Subject
Auxiliary
Verb (present participle)
I
was
sleeping.
He/She/It
You
were
We
You
They
Negative
Subject
Auxiliary
not
Verb (present participle)
I
was
not
sleeping.
He/She/It
You
were
We
You
They
The contracted forms wasn't and weren't are often used instead of was not and were not in spoken and in informal written language.
Interrogative
(Question word)
Auxiliary
Subject
Verb (present participle)
(Where)
was
I
sleeping?
he/she/it
were
you
we
you
they
Related topics:
The forms of the participle
Subject-auxiliary inversion in questions
Past continuous for actions in progress at a specific point in the past
The past continuous tense is used to refer to actions that were in progress at or around a specific point in time in the past. This point can be implied or expressed with a time expression or a clause with a verb in the past simple tense:
At 9 o'clock, I
was sitting
on the train.
A few minutes ago, they
were
still
dancing
.
When I called her, she
was studying