THE PAST TENSE is a verb tense expressing action, activity, state or being in the past of the current moment (in an absolute tense system), or prior to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future (in a relative tense system).
A lesson in Grammar: The SIMPLE PAST is used for describing acts that have already been concluded and whose exact time of occurrence is known. Furthermore, simple past is used for retelling successive events. That is why it is commonly used in storytelling. PAST PROGRESSIVE is used for describing events that were in the process of occurring when a new event happened. The already occurring event is presented in past progressive, the new one in simple past. PRESENT PERFECT SIMPLE is used for describing a past action’s effect on the present. PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE is used for describing an event that has been going on until the present and may be continued in the future. It also puts emphasis on how an event has occurred. PAST PERFECT SIMPLE is used for describing secluded events that have occurred before something else followed. In defining the precedent to a situation the past tense establishes the status quo, the normal state of things from which everything shifted. The past tense situates the moment in time with less precision and less reliability than the present and in that way becomes an active device in memory and storytelling...
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