Past Tenses in the English Language

How to use the past tenses in English | What are the structures of the past tenses what are the differences and the relationship

Past Tenses in the English Language - When and How to use the past tenses in English

With different types of past tenses we can express actions that happened at different times in the past in relation to other actions.

A Past Simple action can 'interrupt' a Past Continuous one.

The Millers were driving home when their car broke down. (they were in the process of driving home when their car broke down and interrupted their driving).

So with the Past Continuous we express that somebody was in the middle of doing something at a certain point in the past and this action started before and was till going on/hadn't finished at the point of reference.

Or we can actually show that two situations happened at the same time continuously if we use two Past Continuous actions in our sentences.

I was reading in bed while my husband was watching the Late Night Show with Matty.

With past tenses we can also show that something happened earlier in the past. When we use the Past Perfect in combination with the Past Simple, we advise that the perfect action had happened before the simple action in the past.