How do I use simple past and past continuous to tell a story? #EnglishHelp

Three little pigs were living peacefully in their homes when a wolf tried to destroy their houses.

Have you ever wanted to tell that famous story, or any other story in English? You might have noticed that it's not that easy to tell stories in English if you don't know how to use the simple past and past continuous tenses together.

To use these two tenses properly, first you need to understand their meaning and form (how they're written or said).

Simple Past

• Describes something that happened only once and at one point in time (like if an arrow hit a bullseye)

• Use it to describe something that happened once, then stopped

• Has only one word: the base verb

Simple Past Examples

• The three pigs left their parents' home.

• They built their own homes.

• They used different materials to build the houses.

Past Continuous

• Describes something that happened over time (it kept happening)

• It also describes something that happened for more than one second, or didn't finish right away

• Has two words: was/were and the verb

Past Continuous Examples

• The pigs were building their homes for weeks.

• They were talking about which materials to use.

• The wolf was looking for the pigs.

It is also possible to use both tenses in the same sentence. The most common way to do this is by joining two events together with a linking word like when or while.

Follow these steps to create a sentence using both the simple past and past continuous tenses:

1. Use the past continuous tense to describe something that took some time to finish.

2. In the same sentence, use the simple past tense to describe something that happens once.

3. Put the word "when" in front of one of the simple past part of the sentence.

Here are some examples:

• The first pig was sitting at home when the wolf came.

• The pig was leaving when the wolf destroyed the house.

• The wolf was celebrating when he noticed that the house was empty.

Photo by MARIOLA GROBELSKA on Unsplash

Follow these steps to create a sentence using both the simple past and past continuous tenses. Steps one and two are the same as a sentence that uses "when".

1. Use the past continuous tense to describe something that took some time to finish.

2. In the same sentence, use the simple past tense to describe something that happens once.

3. Put the word "while" in front of one of the past continuous part of the sentence.

Here are some examples:

• While the second pig was watching TV, the first pig entered his house.

• While they were planning what to do, the wolf arrived.

• The wolf destroyed the house while the pigs were running away.

Photo by Kenneth Schipper Vera on Unsplash

Now you understand the rules! All that's left is to get some practice. Try to complete the story. The third pig's house is made of brick and the wolf cannot destroy it. Use this info to finish the story!

Photo by Hayden Mills on Unsplash

Other ways you can practice using simple past and past continuous: