17 Read the description of the Past Tenses and do exercises afterwards. Past Tenses

Tense	Meaning	Time expression	Grammatical forms + ? --
Past Simple	a common fact	ago yesterday last week in 1990	Ved (V2)	Did …V1?	Didn’t +V1
Past Continuous	a process	- at that moment yesterday - from 6 p.m. till 7p.m while as	w as V -ing were
Past Perfect	priority	before by 7 o’clock by that time	Had + V ed (or 3 form)
Past Perfect Continuous	priority + a process	for since	Had +been + V- ing

Past simple

(verb + ed)

past actions which happened one immediately after the other	He reached the window, opened it and put the flower on the window sill.
completed actions or events which happened at a stated past time	She washed her car a minute ago.
past habits or states	He used to eat porridge when he was a child.
complete past actions not connected to the present with a stated or implied time reference	Chinese invented gunpowder. George Washington went to school for 7 or 8 years, and his favorite subject was arithmetic.

Past continuous

(was/were +verb -ing)

actions in the middle of happening at a stated past time	She was writing letters this time last Wednesday.
two or more simultaneous past actions of certain duration	I was watching TV while my sister was playing computer games.
a past action in progress interrupted by another past action. The longer action is in the Past Continuous, the shorter action is in the Past Simple	I was learning grammar rules when my friend came.