In the past simple, the auxiliary did followed by the bare infinitive form of the main verb can be used in affirmative sentences to express emphasis. In speech, the auxiliary is stressed:
In contrast with the past perfect simple tense, which emphasises the result of a completed action, the past perfect continuous focuses on the duration or the activity itself:
In a story which is told in the past tense, the main events (the ones that happen in the foreground and carry the story forward) are expressed with the past simple, while the past continuous is used for background events:
Time is a concept which is related to our perception of reality. There are three times: past, present and future. Tense is a grammatical category which is marked by verb inflection and expresses when an event or action happens in the flow of time.
Strictly speaking, only two English tenses are marked by the inflection of the verb:
