A selection of English ESL past time expressions printables

Do you want to learn how to speak about the past? Do you need to revise the past simple? Do you need some material for your lesson about the past simple? 

Try this grammar reference with some useful exercises about the past simple and past time expressions. 



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Grammar: past simple and past time expressions

I'm teaching the time to one of my students, he finds difficult to identify the hours and the minutes and which one goes first ... that's why I designed this clock so he can put the numbers (hours), the expressions (half past ten.. ) and the hands of the clock in the correct place. 

TIME

Use the time expressions and the past perfect tense to write stories.

Time Expressions with the Past Perfect

AIMS:
The major aim of this exercise is to talk about past activities.
•	to practice Past Simple Tense
•	to illustrate past activities
•	to practise informal conversation
•	to increase vocabulary of verbsCONTEXT:Tell your students they can imagine a conversation with their best friend who is really stressed and they are having a talk on how to take care of oneself.PROCEDURE:
1.	Tell your student(s) to get into pairs and inform them that they are going to exchange information on when they did some activities last time.2.	IN A GROUP: pre-teach the vocabulary necessary to talk about past activities in the worksheet. This activity is a great follow up after lessons on Past Simple Tense. Present your students with the context and one or two examples. Tell your students to work in pairs and write their answers in the worksheet. Instruct them to focus on past forms of the verbs in answers. Finally, ask your group for feedback, ask them to report to you who did what and when.3.	ONE-TO-ONE lesson: Explain to your student that you will ask each other questions and write down the answers. If your student has difficulties with vocabulary, be prepared to show/explain/teach a few examples.

When did you last - speaking

1 page handout telling the time (past/to + digital) with pics of clocks, and a few time expressions like at noon, the day before yesterday, a fortnight...

telling the time & time expressions

A list of the most common time espressions for each English Tens, Present, Past an Futue Tenses that wll help students these expressions properly whn writing senteces

Time Expressions

These two worksheets help expressing the time for beginners using o'clock and half past answering the question What time is it? and  the question What time is + school subject?

Time and School subjects

Fill-in exercises with past tense and time expressions for the past

Past and Time Expressions

This is a worksheet with different topics: time expressions (Present Simple - Present Continuous - Past Simple), question words and Irregular verbs in the past. 

Grammar Check - Question Words + Time Expressions

Time expressions in the PAST SIMPLE 



mind map using : during, last, yesterday, ago, when



hope you like it and use it as often as you can ! 

 ;-)  ;-)  ; -)  ;-) 

Time expressions in the PAST - mind map

In this worksheet, I'm focusing on quarter past and quarter to expressions. Students are to observe the examples and answer 2 exercises. The first one is about writing the time and the second one is a matching exercise. I hope you find this useful and easy to use. 

Time telling part 2-Easy- KIDS

What time is it? Explanation

There are two common ways of telling the time.



Formal but easier way

Say the hours first and then the minutes.



Example: 7:45 - seven forty-five



For minutes 01 through 09, you can pronounce the '0' as oh.



Example: 11:06 - eleven (oh) six



More popular way

Say the minutes first and then the hours. Use past and the preceding hour for minutes 01 through 30. Use to and the forthcoming hour for minutes 31 through 59, but .



Example 1: 7.15 - fifteen minutes past seven



Example 2 : 7.45 - fifteen minutes to eight



Another possibility of saying '15 minutes past' is: a quarter past



Another possibility of saying '15 minutes to' is: a quarter to



Another possibility of saying '30 minutes past' is: half past A good source to practice vocabulary on daily routines and time.Note

Use o'clock only at the full hour.



Example: 7:00 - seven o'clock (but 7:10 - ten past seven)



In English ordinary speech, the twelve-hour clock is used.(i)



Beispiel: 17:20 - twenty past five



For times around midnight or midday you can use the expressions midnight or midday / noon instead of the number 12.



Beispiel: 00:00 - midnight



Beispiel: 12:00 - midday or noon



To make clear (where necessary) whether you mean a time before 12 o'clock noon or after, you can use in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening, at night. Use in the morning before 12 o'clock noon, after 12 o'clock noon use in the afternoon. When to change from afternoon to evening, from evening to night and from night to morning depends on your sense of time.



Example: 3:15 - a quarter past three in the morning OR a quarter past three at night



More formal expressions to indicate whether a time is before noon or after are a.m. (also: am - ante meridiem, before noon) and p.m. (also: pm - post meridiem, after noon). Use these expression only with the formal way of telling the time.   in English.

Time and daily routines (EFL for spanish native speakers)

Culture, intercultural communication, cross-cultural communication

Adjectives to describe feelings, emotions

Adjectives to describe personality and character

Adjectives: Gradable / Non-gradable adjectives

Articles: Definite or indefinite article (a, an or the)

BE + infinitive structures (e.g. he was to become famous)

Clauses of contrast (e.g.  although, while)

Clauses of purpose (e.g. in order to, so that, so as to)

Clauses of reason (e.g. because, because of, due to, as, since)

Cleft sentences (e.g. It's Joey we're looking for)

Comparison: Comparative adjectives and structures

Comparison: Superlative adjectives and structures

Conditional 2 (second conditional) - would

Conditionals: Conditional phrases (e.g. unless, provided that, as long as)

Conjunctions (aka connectives, e.g. and, but, or, so, then)

Contractions (shortened forms, e.g. don't, aren't, etc.)

Determiners (words that can come before nouns)

Formal and informal English (politeness or colloquial language)

Future perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Future perfect simple and continuous (progressive) tense

Future phrases (e.g. be about to, bound to, likely to, due to, set to + INF)

Homonyms (two words with the same pronunciation - homophones and homographs)

It as preparatory subject (e.g. it's raining, it's nice of you to)

Linking verbs (aka copulas, e.g. I am a student)

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Nouns: Collective nouns (team, class, family, committee)

Nouns: Proper nouns (names of people, cities, companies)

Oxymorons (phrases with words of contradictory meaning, e.g. living dead)

Participles: Past participle (e.g. HAVING DONE)

Participles: Present participle (e.g. DOING)

Parts of Speech (aka word classes, e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)

Past perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Phonetics (pronunciation, IPA, phonetic symbols)

Plural nouns: regular plurals with S ending

Prefixes (e.g. A, UN, IM, DIS, MIS, EN, etc. )

Prepositions vs adverbs (e.g. before me, saw him before.)

Prepositions: Double prepositions (e.g. out of)

Prepositions: Participle prepositions (e.g. pending, concerning)

Prepositions: Phrase prepositions (e.g. by means of)

Present perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Present perfect simple or present continuous tense

Present simple tense: S for third person singular verbs

Present simple vs continuous (progressive) tense

Pronouns: EACH OTHER, ONE ANOTHER (reciprocal pronouns)

Pronouns: Possessive pronouns (e.g. my, mine)

Pronouns: Reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself, yourself))

Pronouns: SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, EVERYBODY, NO ONE, NOTHING, etc.

Pronouns: THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE (demonstratives)

Pronouns: YOU and THEY to talk about people in general

Quantifiers (e.g. some, many, much, any, few, little)

Questions: WH questions (open-ended questions)

Reported speech: reported questions (indirect questions)

There is / there are / there was / there were / there will be, etc.

Verbs: Transitive or intransitive verbs (words that can or cannot stand with objects)

Working with Paragraphs: ordering, titling

Role play, miming, drama activity or improv game

Pictionary (picture dictionary) or picture matching

Writing an opinion essay (persuasive essay)

Learners who are Pre-A1 have just begun learning English and will first learn how to:<ul><li>Say the letters in the alphabet and numbers</li><li>Say hello, talk about names and age</li><li>Name the colors and dates, express likes and dislikes</li></ul>

Absolute beginners who have begun to learn the letters and numbers

Learners taking the A1 Elementary exam should be able to:<ul><li>Introduce themselves and ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, things he/she has, people he/she knows.</li><li>Communicate using very basic phrases as long as the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: common adjectives & adverbs of frequency, going to, how much/how many, imperatives, I'd like, 's – possessive, common prepositions of place and time, present simple & continuous, there is/are</li></ul>

A very basic tourist level, which is enough for buying food and a bus ticket

Learners taking the A2 Pre-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand sentences and frequently used expressions (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).</li><li>Complete tasks that are routine and exchange information about familiar matters.</li><li>Describe matters of immediate need in simple terms.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: countable/uncountable nouns, adverbs of frequency, future will/going to, much/many, present perfect, past simple, past continuous, common phrasal verbs, common modals: can/should</li></ul>

A tourist who can do basic conversations about the past, present and future

Learners taking the B1 Intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand points regarding family, work, school or leisure-related topics.</li><li>Deal with most travel situations in areas where the language is spoken.</li><li>Create simple texts on topics of personal interest.</li><li>Describe experiences, events, dreams, and ambitions, as well as opinions or plans in brief.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: question tags, intensifiers: too/enough, future tenses, past tenses, modals, conditionals, wh-questions in the past</li></ul>

Learners who can deal with both familiar and routine situations, in friendly and work contexts

Learners taking the B2 Upper-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization.</li><li>Interact with fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without difficulty for either party.</li><li>Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain an opinion on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: perfect tenses, mixed conditionals, modals in the present, phrasal verbs, reported speech, wish, relative clauses</li></ul>

The level where you can be a tour guide for your foreign friends and talk about a lot of topics, even abstract ones, with ease and fluency

Learners taking the C1 Advanced exam should be able to: Express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts. Produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, using linking phrases (=words that connect ideas between sentences). Main grammar points to know: inversion, mixed conditionals, modals in the past, all passive forms, phrasal verbs (all patterns), wish/if only for regrets

Learners who can smoothly communicate in every walk of life, read long texts and write well

Learners taking the C2 Proficient exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand almost everything read or heard with ease.</li><li>Summarize information from a variety of sources into a coherent presentation.</li><li>Express themselves using precise meaning in complex scenarios.</li><li>Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations</li></ul>

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56 Past time expressions English ESL worksheets pdf & doc