Complex Verbs

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Past + Infinitive

In the past tense, you can combine an inactive and an active verb (just like in the present).
You can use the past tense verb plus an infinitive form.

Key Rule to Remember: when there is more than one verb, the first verb always indicates the tense.
We only need to show the past tense with the first verb in the phrase.

planned to go    waited to see      managed to finish    hoped to visit    agreed to do

Past + Present Participle

You can also use the present participle with certain verbs. Use the verbs list in the present tense section to review. The use of either the infinitive or the present participle is the same in the past tense.

liked going      enjoyed driving      disliked talking on the phone        hated selling things        loved visiting relatives     
loved eating Chinese food

went shopping      went skiing    went horseback riding     

began studying      started playing        started practicing      stopped going

Question	Example
1. Describe some activities that you liked and disliked when you were a child.	I loved playing with dolls. I disliked visiting my cousins.
2. Think about one of your parents, a brother or sister. What are some things this person liked or disliked when you were a child?	My mother loved baking cookies and cakes. She disliked scolding us.
3. Tell a brief story. Think of an activity that you started and stopped doing.	When I was six years old, I started taking ballet classes. I stopped taking the classes when I was seven because my mother didn't like the teacher.
4. Again, think about someone you know. What is something that this person started and stopped doing?	My sister started playing the saxophone when she was fourteen, but she stopped taking lessons after a short time.
5. What are some things you wanted to accomplish last year?	I wanted to find a new job. I also wanted to spend more time with my friends.
6. What is something you began to do recently?	I began to exercise more regularly.

Past Progressive

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Create the past progressive with was or were + -ing verb.

Examples:    I was working all day long.         I was shopping before I came here.

Use the past progressive to show continuous past time. Use it at these times:

1) to show continuous time in the past
2) to describe something that was happening before or after another event
3) to emphasize past time--to do this add a phrase like "all morning," "all day" or "for hours."

Answer these questions using the past progressive tense.

Question	Example
1. What were you doing yesterday?	I was cleaning my house.
2. What were you doing last week?	I was working, mostly.
3. What were you up to earlier today?	I was writing a report.
4. What were you doing before you sat down for this class?	Before I sat down for this class, I was shopping at a bookstore.
5. Name something you did last week. What were you doing afterward?	Last week, I went to a movie with a friend. Afterward, we were chatting at a cafe.
6. What is something you did recently that took a long time?	I was straightening my garden for hours.

Note: Sometimes people use the past progressive too often. You only need it when you want to show that something happened for a period of time.

Challenge: Write 6-8 sentences on what you did yesterday. Use the past progressive when you want to express an activity that lasted throughout the morning/afternoon/evening or for some hours. Use the simple past, the past + present participle or past + infinitive to express actions that you do not want to emphasize. 

Example: Yesterday, I woke up at 6:30 in the morning. I started working on some spreadsheets on my home PC. Then I decided to organize some papers in my office. There were more papers than I thought! I was organizing and filing for three hours. Finally, I finished and called a friend. She was having some problems with her kid. She was still telling me about those problems when my husband came home.

* To perfect your use of the past tenses, try to do this exercise daily.

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