"Past Time Markers"

LESSON: “Past Time Markers”

> Let’s have a look at some phrases that we can use to identify specific times in the past:

- The most common way to describe the past is with the word ‘ago’:

- 3 days ago
- 4 months ago
- several hours ago 

> Note that it is wrong to use ‘before’:

- Correct: I saw him two days ago.
- Wrong: I saw him before two days.

> We use the word ‘last’ to describe ‘the one before now’:

e.g last week - last month -last Friday

> We use when, while or sometimes as to describe two actions happening:

e.g When I arrived, Sally was talking to Ernie.
e.g While I was shopping, I thought about Sally.
e.g As I was shopping, I thought about Sally.

> We use ‘by the time’ to describe something up until a time in the past. We often use the past perfect tense for this:

e.g By the time I arrived, the guests had finished the food.

> We use the word during in a similar way to while. However, during is not a sentence connector:

e.g I earned a lot of money during summer.
e.g I earned a lot of money while I was working there.

MORE AT: http://languagelabs.tumblr.com/