Past Tense – Examples
                                                                                                  Simple Past Tense 
  Rules & Examples
1 The simple past tense is used to indicate an action completed in the past. It often occures with adverbs or adverb phrases of past time.
  The steamer sailed yesterday.
  She left school last year.
  I received his letter a week ago.
2 Sometimes this tense is used without an adverb of time. In such cases the time may be either implied or indicated by the context.
  I learnt Hindi in Nagpur.
  Babar defeated Rana Sanga at Kanawha.
  I didn’t sleep well (i.e. last night)
3 The Simple past is also used for past habits:
  He studied many hours every day.
  She always carried an umbrella.
                                                                                                  Past Continuous Tense 
1 The past continuous is used to denote an action going on at some time in the past. The time of action may or may not be indicated.
  We were watching TV all evening.
  The light went out while I was reading.
  When I saw him, he was playing chess.
  It was getting darker
  As in the two examples above, the Past continuous and simple past are used together when a new action happened in the middle of a longer action. The simple past is used for the new action.
2 This tense is also used with always, continually, etc. for persistent habits in the past.
  He was always grumbling.
                                                                                                    Past Perfect Tense 
1 The past perfect describes an action completed before a certain moment in the past.
  I met him in New Delhi in 1996. I had seen him last five years before.
2 If two actions happened in the past, it may be necessary to show which action happened earlier than the other.  The past perfect is mainly used in such situations. The simple past is used in one clause and the past perfect in the other.
  When I reached the station the train had started (so I could not get into the train)
  I had done my exercise when Hari came to see me.
  I had written the letter before he arrived .
                                                                                                 Past Perfect Continuous Tense 
1 The past perfect continuous is used for an action that began before a certain point in the past and continued up to that time.
  At that time he had been writing a novel for two months.
  When Mr. Mukerji came to the school in 1995, Mr. Anand had already been teaching there for five years.