The simple past tense is what you use when you are talking about something that has been completed. It doesn’t matter how long it took so long as it is not going on any longer.
You use the simple past tense in the following ways:
- With a completed action in the past. I had a lesson on Cambly yesterday. Keywords like ‘yesterday and ‘last year’ show us that the simple past is being used.
- With a series of completed actions in the order that they happened. I finished work, drove home and watched a movie.
- For something that started and stopped in the past. I lived in England for 5 years. These expressions often give a time, one month, one year etc.
- For habits in the past. I studied English at school. Here we words that make it clear it was a habit with always, often, never, when I was younger etc.
- With past facts or generalisations. He was terrible at English, but now he is learning with Cambly.
Author: Amanda Settle, Cambly Tutor
If you’d like to keep this conversation going with Amanda, give her a call on Cambly or make a reservation with her here: https://www.cambly.com/en/student/tutor/Amanda%20Se