UNIT 3: PAST TENSES, USED TO AND

TIME PREPOSITIONS.

1. PRESENT PERFECT S./CONTINUOUS and PAST SIMPLE/PAST

CONTINUOUS in unit 1.

2. PAST PERFECT.

Past perfect

past now

+ Subj + had + past participle (-ed/3rd column).

- Subj + had + NOT + past participle.
? HAD + subj + past participle.
*WQ + HAD + subj + past participle.

USE. Example:
“Sarah went to a party last week. Paul went to the party too, but they didn’t see
each other. Paul left the party at 10.30 and Sarah arrived at 11. So, when Sarah
arrived at the party, Paul wasn’t there. He had gone home”

Sometimes, when we talk about sth that happened in the past (Sarah arrived at the
party) and then we want to talk about things that happened before, we use the past
perfect.

3. PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS.

Past perfect cont.

past now

+ Subj + had + been +ing.

- Subj + had + NOT + been + ing.
? HAD + subj + been + ing
*WQ + HAD + subj + been + ing.
USE. Example:
“Yesterday morning I got up and looked out of the window. The sun was
shining, but the ground was very wet. It had been raining.”

We can say that sth had been happening for a period of time before sth else
happened:
“We´d been playing tennis for about half an hour when it started to rain heavily”
Compare PAST CONTINUOUS and PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS:
“It wasn’t raining when we went out. The sun was shining. But it had been
raining, so the ground was wet.”

4. USED TO.
USED TO NOT ANYMORE

past now

+ Subj + USED TO + verb (inf).

- Subj +did not (didn’t) + USE TO (without D!) + verb (inf).
? Did + subj. + USE TO (without D!) + verb (inf)
*WQ + did + subj + USE TO+ verb (inf).

We use ‘used to’ when sth happened regularly in the past, but no longer happens:
“I used to play tennis a lot, but I don’t play very often now”.

We also use ‘used to’ for things that were true, but are not true anymore:
“This building is now a furniture shop. It used to be a cinema.”

‘I used to do sth’ is past. There’s no present form, because when we talk about the
present, we use the present simple:
“I used to play” (past habit) and “I play” (present habit).

*used to can be replaced with WOULD, here they mean the same:
“I used to play the piano when I was a child” = “I would play the piano when I
was a child”.

*BE/GET USED TO +ING (Estar acostumbrado/acostumbrarse)

“To be/get used to sth” :

“Frank lives alone. He doesn’t mind this because he has lived alone for 15 years.
It is not strange for him. He is used to it. He is used to living alone.”
 “I bought some new shoes. They felt a bit strange at first because I wasn’t used
to them.

“Diane has a new job. She has to get up much earlier now than before – at 6.30.
She finds this difficult because she isn’t used to getting up so early.”

After be/get used to you cannot use the infinitive, always -ing! Here, to is a
preposition, not a part of the infinitive.

5. TIME PREPOSITIONS: AT/ON/IN.

We use:
- At: for the time of day – “at five o’clock, at midnight, at sunset”
- On: for days and dates – “on Friday(s), on 16 May 1999, on Christmas Day”
- In: longer periods – “in October, in 1988, in the 18th century, in the past”
BUT

- We use at in these expressions:

- At the weekend(s), at Christmas, at the moment, at the same time.

We say:
- In the mornings but on Friday mornings.
- In the afternoon but on Sunday afternoons.
- In the evenings but on Monday evenings.

“I’ll see you in the morning” but “I’ll see you on Friday morning”

- We don’t use at/on/in before last/next/this/every:

“I’ll see you next Friday” (not on next Friday).

-In a few minutes/in six months,…

“The train will be leaving in a few minutes”.
You can also say ‘in six months’ time’, ‘in a week’s time’,…
“They’re getting married in six months’ time” (=in six months).

-We also use in to say how long it takes to do sth:

“I learnt to drive in four weaks”

*ON TIME/IN TIME

-On time: punctual, not late. If sth happens on time, it happens at the time
which was planned:
“The 11.45 train left on time” (=it left at 11.45).
The opposite of on time is late:
“Be on time, don’t be late”.
 -In time (for sth, to do sth): soon enough.
“Will you be home in time for dinner?” (=soon enough for dinner).
The opposite of in time is too late:
“I got home too late to see the game on tv. I didn’t arrive in time for it.”
You can say just in time (=almost too late):
“We got to the station just in time for our train.”

*AT THE END/IN THE END.

-At the end (of sth): at the time when sth ends.
“I’m going away at the end of January”
The opposite of at the end (of) is at the beginning (of).

-In the end: finally. We use in the end when we say what the final result of a
situation was:
“We had a lot of problems with our car. We sold it in the end.
The opposite of in the end is usually at first:
“At first we didn’t get on very well, but in the end we became good friends”.