We talk about the past more often than it seems

We talk about the past more often than it seems. Tell a friend a cool story, retell someone's words, refer to another author in the report, talk about last weekend, vacation, or any memories — for all this, we need to know a few simple rules for matching times.

In Russian, everything is easy, but in English, if we are talking about the past, you can no longer use the past tense in conjunction with the present or future.

Time matching is used in complex sentences that consist of two parts.

The main part is independent (for example: he said).

Subordinate-the part that depends on the main one, to which we can ask a question (for example: he said (what exactly?) that he would call).

If the main part uses one of the past tenses, we need to learn how to change the time in the subordinate part (regardless of how it sounds in Russian). There are several ways it can change.

Simultaneous action

If the actions in the main and subordinate parts occurred at the same time, then both parts will be Past Simple.

But sometimes, the action in the subordinate part can be long. In this case, we use the Past Continuous (was/were + verb "-ing").

I was (Past Simple) sure Kate was (Past Simple) busy that day. – Я был уверен, что Кейт (была) занята в тот день.
I came and saw (Past Simple) that my friends were playing (Past Continuous) rugby. – Я пришел и увидел, что мои друзья играли в регби.

Previous action

If the action in the main sentence happened later than the action in the subordinate clause, then the last one will be Past Perfect (had + verb in the 3rd form).

He said that he had finished his work. – Он сказал, что он закончил работу (закончил ее он перед тем, как сказать об этом).
Jack knew that Kate had not had time to write him a letter. – Джек знал, что у Кейт не было (до этого) времени написать ему письмо.

The previous action may be prolonged. In this case, you should use Past Perfect Continuous (had + been + verb with the ending-ing).

She said she had been playing the piano all day long. – Она сказала, что играла на фортепиано весь день (она долго играла до того, как сказать об этом).
He told his mom had been cooking from the early morning. – Он сказал, что его мама готовила на кухне с самого утра.

Don't forget that some verbs can't be used in continuous tenses. We will use Past Perfect with them. The most common ones are: be, belong, believe, feel, love, know, want.

Subsequent action

If the action in the subordinate part happens after the action in the main part, then we will use one of the times of the Future in the Past group (the same as Future Simple, but instead of "will" we use "would").

I felt you would say this to me. – Я чувствовал, что ты скажешь мне это.
You said you would be waiting for me. – Ты сказал, что будешь ждать меня.
We didn’t expect we would have finished this project by the end of the week. – Мы не ожидали, что окончим проект к концу недели.

In subordinate clauses of time with Past Perfect, a number of connecting adverbs and phrases are used that allow you to most accurately Express the temporal relationship between actions in the main and subordinate clauses: when, as soon as, till/until, before, after.

When is used when we want to emphasize that the first action was completed before the second, and that they are closely related through the result.

When he opened the window the bird flew away.

As soon as the pirates had found the gold, they started to quarrel.

Till/until and before are traditionally used in the times of the Perfect group. In Past Perfect, the use of these adverbs emphasizes the completion or expected completion of one action before another.

The collector refused to go till he had seen all the pictures.

Before we had finished our meal he ordered us back to work.

After is also often used with Past Perfect.

After they had elected the president some members became furious.

In conclusion, I want to note that the topic seems very complex until you start to understand it, in order not to make mistakes with the past tense, you need to study the agreement of tenses in English in more detail, because they are specifically different and not similar to the Russian language.

Food for thought was taken from the following Internet sources.

Руководство: EnglishDom. вдохновляем выучить. URL: https://www.englishdom.com/blog/soglasovanie-vremen-v.. (дата обращения: 05.12.2020)

Руководство: Английский язык в школе. Сообщество изучающих и преподающих английский язык. URL: https://anglyaz.ru/grammatika/grammarlessons/50-pre-i.. (дата обращения: 05.12.2020)

The work was performed by a student of the group Dbl-302, Elizabeth Ndongo