Past: typical errors

We use the past simple, not the past continuous, to talk about past habits:

• I walked to school every day when I was young.
• Not: I was walking to school every day …

We use the past simple, not the past continuous, to emphasise completed events at a specific time in the past:

• I called her office at 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon.
• Not: I was calling her office at 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon.

We use the past simple to refer to a definite time in the past, not the present perfect or the past perfect:

• I woke up at seven o’clock this morning.
• Not: I’ve woken up at seven o’clock this morning.

We use the present perfect, not the past simple, to refer to time up to now:

• I haven’t paid my electricity bill yet.
• Not: I didn’t pay my electricity bill yet.

We use the past simple, not the past continuous, to refer to repeated main events. We only use the past continuous for repeated background events:

• He cycled to Claire’s house last night. (main event)
• Not: He was cycling to Claire’s house last night. (We see this as the background event and expect to hear the main event following it.)

We don’t use the past continuous in the same way as used to when we refer to things in the past which are no longer true:

• We used to have picnics in the park in the summer.
• Not: We were having picnics in the park in the summer.

We don’t use the past perfect in the main clause of a conditional sentence. It is only used in the conditional clause:

• [conditional clause] If we had known you were alone, [main clause] we would have visited you.
• Not: If we had known you were alone, we had visited you.