English past events and future plans

Place a message in time. Use was and were for past situations, regular and common irregular verbs for completed events, and going to for plans. Compare the subject and verb in statements, questions, and negatives before retelling the event yourself.

Give the listener a timeline

Begin with was and were for past conditions and locations, then use regular and irregular action verbs to tell what happened. Add a time phrase when the conversation does not already establish the period. The simple past can describe one event, repeated events in a completed period, or a past situation. It does not require every event to be short.

Track where the grammatical marking goes

Past action questions and negatives use did with a base verb, while be makes its own questions and negatives. A going to plan also uses be, but it follows with a different complete expression. These constructions become easier when you identify the finite helper and the following verb form separately. Irregular past forms and participles belong to different columns for a reason.

Move from a remembered event to an intention

Tell a short sequence about yesterday, deny one event that did not happen, and ask a follow up question. Then describe a plan for tomorrow using going to. Compare a plan with a schedule or arrangement without assuming that all future meanings require the same form. The production tasks ask you to build complete messages, and the later practice explains every offered answer.

Sources

• British Council LearnEnglish Kids: Past simple of be
• British Council LearnEnglish Teens: Past simple regular verbs
• British Council LearnEnglish: Irregular verbs
• British Council LearnEnglish: Past simple
• British Council LearnEnglish: Talking about the future