Simple Past

1
Past Tenses

• Simple Past Past Continuous

2
Learning Objectives

• Secondary One Normal Academic
• 1 period
• To choose between past continuous and simple past
  tense.
• To form past continuous tense correctly.
• Read about the Redhill Murder Mystery. Click
  to go to the next page. Click on to
  complete the worksheets provided.

Target Audience
Objectives
Redhill Murder Mystery
3
Redhill Murder Mystery

• Last night, Mr Lim died at his home in Redhill.
  Detective Kang was the first person to arrive at
  the scene after Mr Lim died.
• Mr Lims wife, Brenda, told Detective Kang, It
  was an accident. My husband took a shower at
  about 10 pm. After his shower, he slipped on a
  piece of soap and fell down.
• Who is the murderer?

• Saddlier, Riggenbach and Samuda.

4
Simple Past Past Continuous Tense

• You use the Simple Past for an action that
  started and finished in the past.
• Eg. Detective Kang arrived at 10.30 pm.
• Mrs Lim drank several cups of black coffee.
• You use the Past Continuous for an action that
  was in progress at a specific time in the past.
• Eg. Detective Kang was eating dinner at 10 pm.
• Mr Lim was brushing his teeth at 10 pm.

5
Simple Past Tense

• Last night, Mr Lim died at his home in Redhill.
  Detective Kang was the first person to arrive at
  the scene after Mr Lim died.
• Mr Lims wife, Brenda, told Detective Kang,
• It was an accident. My husband took a shower
• at about 10 pm. After his shower, he slipped on
• a piece of soap and fell down.

6
Past Continuous Tense

• You use the Past Continuous with the Simple Past
  to show that one action began first and was still
  in progress when the second action happened.
• Eg.Detective Kang was reading a newspaper when he
  heard about the murder.
• You use the Past Continuous with the Past
  Continuous to show 2 actions in progress at the
  same time.
• Eg. Mrs Lim was talking on the phone while her
  husband was taking a shower.

2nd action
1st action
Worksheet A
Worksheet B
7
Redhill Mystery Worksheet A
Try to solve the mystery and make meaningful
statements about Mr Lims death by matching
information from column A with that in column B.

• Mrs Lim called the police
• While she was waiting for the police to arrive
• As soon as Detective Kang heard about the murder
• When Detective Kang asked to see the body.
• While Detective Kang was searching the bathroom
  for clues

• he became suspicious of Mrs Lims story.
• Mrs Lim took him to the scene of the crime.
• as soon as her husband died.
• she drank a cup of freshly-brewed coffee.
• he rushed to Mr Lims house.

8
Redhill Mystery Worksheet A
This was what happened on the fateful day Mr Lim
died. Click on the question mark to solve the
mystery.

• Mrs Lim called the police
• While she was waiting for the police to arrive
• As soon as Detective Kang heard about the murder
• When Detective Kang asked to see the body.
• While Detective Kang was searching the bathroom
  for clues

• he became suspicious of Mrs Lims story.
• Mrs Lim took him to the scene of the crime.
• as soon as her husband died.
• she drank a cup of freshly-brewed coffee.
• he rushed to Mr Lims house.

9
Redhill Murder Mystery
Solved!

• Mrs Lim killed her husband. She entered the
  bathroom while her husband was brushing his
  teeth, and she hit him over the head with the
  bathroom scale. Then she turned on the shower and
  put soap on the floor. How did Detective Kang
  know this?

It was not possible to slip from this position.
He was brushing his teeth, not walking out of the
shower.
Exit
Worksheet B Answers
10
Acknowledgements

• Collaborative effort by Koh Shio Theng and Rukiah
  Othman, 8th October 2002.
• Dr Myint Swe Khine, for his kind guidance.
• The Redhill Murder Mystery is adapted from
  Grammar Dimensions Platinum Edition 2 by
  Michelle Sadlier, Heidi Riggenbach and Virginia
  Samuda, Thomson Learning 2000.