M: Hello English learners! Welcome back to EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

E: And I’m Erica.

M: And today we have a very special lesson, because we’re gonna be focusing a little bit more on grammar.

E: That’s right! Uh, we’re going to look today at the difference between past simple and past progressive or sometimes called past continues.

M: Exactly, so, we are going to take a look at these two structures, which are a little bit confusing at times and we’re gonna be practicing today, but before we get started, why don’t we take a look at “vocabulary preview”?

Voice: Vocabulary preview.

E: Well, this dialogue is all about telling a story in the past and we’re gonna hear two words in the dialogue that we need to understand the meaning of. So, the first one – ages.

M: Ages.

E: I haven’t seen you in ages.

M: Okay, so, if I tell you I haven’t seen you in ages…

E: Basically, you haven’t seen me in a really long time.

M: Okay, so, it’s a way of exaggerating a little bit.

E: Yes, um, and this word ages we can use, um, in many different ways like “Oh, I’ve been studying English for ages”.

M: Or, for example, I can say “I haven’t been to the dentist’s in ages”.

E: Oh, well, I guess you’d better go, ha?

M: Hehe. Right, so, ages – a very long time.

E: Yes! Now, another phrase – to run into somebody.

M: So, to run into somebody.

E: I ran into Matt.

M: Okay, so, if you ran into Matt the other day…

E: You met him unexpectedly.

M: Okay, so, you didn’t plan to meet, you didn’t have a date.

E: Right.

M: You just casually, on the street, met.

E: Exactly.

M: Okay, so, I ran into your friend the other day.

E: Okay, so, two good words; we’re gonna hear both of these in the dialogue. So, why don’t we get started with “dialogue, first time”?

DIALOGUE, FIRST TIME

M: Alright, very good, so, a funny story and as we saw a lot of stuff in the past, right?

E: That’s right and we’re gonna look at that in a moment, but first we’ve got lots of exciting language to describe, um, when somebody gets really emotional.

M: Okay, so, why don’t we start now with “language takeaway”?

Voice: Language takeaway.

E: We have four words here. Now, in the dialogue, um, the guy in the story lost it.

M: So, he saw a mouse and he completely lost it.

E: To lose it.

M: Okay, so, when you lose some… you lose it, what are you losing?

E: You’re losing control of yourself and your emotion.

M: Okay, so, you lose your temper maybe.

E: Yep.

M: So, when I lose it, do I just get angry?

E: Angry or upset or even sad…

M: Your…

E: But it’s usually a negative feeling.

M: Okay, so, it’s not a good thing to lose it.

E: No, so, for example, when I showed my boss the sales figures he completely lost it.

M: Okay, very good. So, that’s what lose it means. And now our second word is very similar, but has a little bit of a difference.

E: That’s right! He started freaking out.

M: Okay, so, to freak out.

E: To freak out.

M: Now, freak out is very similar to lose it, right?

E: Yeah, but why don’t we hear an example now of somebody freaking out.

Example 1: Is just… ah, no! No! Okay, forget it! Forget it! Alright, just, forget it! I don’t even wanna… just… I just wanna forget it! I just wanna forget it! I… uh! I don’t know! I don’t know!

Example 2: Okay, calm down, huh! God! Hehe, what? I got a calm down! I’m so happy again! I can’t even express it! I’m like… I haven’t… have… I even finished one sentence! I’m like… Hehe! Huh! Gimme a hi-fi, baby!

M: Alright, so, we heard this person freaking out and basically it could be losing control or losing your temper, but also in a positive way.

E: Right, so, maybe, um, you’re really excited about something that’s going to happen, so you’re freaking out.

M: Okay, maybe you’re very nervous or you’re very excited.

E: Uhu.

M: Alright! And now moving on to our third word – stare.

E: To stare.

M: People started to stare.

E: Staring.

M: Okay, now, when you stare at someone or at something…

E: You look at and focus at something for a really long time.

M: Okay, so, you’re looking at it.

E: Yeah.

M: Or focusing on it

E: Yeah, longer than usual.

M: Alright, maybe when we were small, our parents taught us that it’s not nice to stare…

E: Yeah.

M: At other people.

E: Exactly.

M: Alright, so, to stare.

E: And our final word – when Matt saw the mouse he started shrieking.

M: Alright, so, to shriek.

E: Shriek.

M: Shriek. Very similar to that movie Shrek.

E: Oh, yeah, it sounds quite similar.

M: Alright, but it’s different. What does shriek mean?

E: Well, why don’t we listen to an example?

Example of shrieking.

E: Okay, so, I think shrieking is to shout in a very high pitched voice.

M: Exactly, that’s to shriek. Okay, so, we saw four really great words in language takeaway and why don’t we listen now to the dialogue for a second time a little bit slower? And then we’ll come back and look at the differences between simple past and past progressive.

DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME (slow)

E: Okay, so, there’s a lot of different uses of past tense here in this dialogue, wasn’t there?

M: Yeah, since he was telling a story that happened, he used the past a lot.

E: Well, let’s now as promised look at past simple and past progressive in “grammar breakdown”.

Voice: Grammar breakdown.

E: Okay, Marco, before we start our discussion, why don’t we hear one example of past simple and one example of past progressive?

Example of past simple: You know, just last week I ran into Matt as well.

Example of past progressive: Well, we were talking, catching up on we’ve been doing.

M: Okay, so, we heard that “just last week I ran into Matt”, so, we discussed what ran into means.

E: Yep, to meet someone by surprise.

M: Alright, and now this structure is the simple past, right?

E: Yep.

M: Now, the second example that we heard was “we were talking and catching up”.

E: Okay, so, let’s look at the difference in meaning here. “I ran into Matt” – happened in the past, right?

M: Right, simple past.

E: But one moment in the past.

M: So, the action finished, concluded.

E: Started and finished all around the same time, so, it’s one simple moment.

M: Okay. Now, the other example is in the past progressive, so, the action was happening for a longer period of time.

E: Yeah, okay, so, let… let’s… let’s attach some times to this. Um, maybe you ran into Matt at 8:04, okay? And so the action started at 8:04, but you were talking and caching up from 8:05 until 9:05.

M: Okay, so, you were talking for an hour.

E: Right, so, it’s a l… the past progressive you use, um, when you’re… when an action is happening for a longer period of time.

M: Okay, so, to better understand this, let’s have another example.

Example of past simple: Matt saw a mouse run under his chair and he completely lost it.

Example of past progressive: Everyone was staring and laughing.

M: So, as we heard in the example, he “saw a mouse run under his chair”.

E: So, a quick action that started and then finished quickly.

M: Okay, he saw the mouse and it ran under the chair.

E: Yep.

M: Now, the second example we heard was “everyone was staring and laughing”.

E: So, maybe this happened over four–five minutes.

M: Okay, so, people were looking at him and laughing and talking about how he was screaming like a girl.

E: Yes.

M: Okay, so, that’s the main difference between the simple past and the past progressive – th… amount of time that the action happened.

E: Yep. Alright, well, now that we understand a little bit more about the past tense, why don’t we hear again in context by listening to the dialogue for a third time?

DIALOGUE, THIRD TIME

M: Okay, perfect, so, now that we understand the words and the grammar behind it, there’re some interesting phrases here that you can use casually with your friends.

E: Here there’s actually a lot of great sort of meeting and greeting and saying hello language.

M: Uhu. So, for example, when they met up, since they were old friends, he said “Hey, Pat!”

E: Hey!

M: Okay, so, this word hey.

E: It’s kind of like “hi”.

M: It’s “hi”, right?

E: Yeah.

M: Ju… and normally you would use it to get somebody’s attention, right?

E: Yeah.

M: Like hey, “I’m over here”, some…

E: Hey, waiter!

M: Okay.

E: Yeah.

M: But in this case like “hey, how’s it going” or “hi”.

E: Yeah, so, it’s a really friendly and informal way of saying “hi”.

M: Okay, and then he asked “how’s it going?”

E: How’s it going?

M: So, again, this is a way of saying “how are you?”

E: Yeah, Marco, what’s the correct answer to this greeting?

M: Well… well, for example, he said “things are going great”, right?

E: Uhu.

M: You can say “yeah, things are great” or “I’m doing well”.

E: Yeah.

M: Or…

E: Even “great”, you know…

M: Great!

E: Yeah, so, how’s it going?

M: Oh, it’s great!

E: Yeah.

M: Right? Now, another one that we didn’t see in the dialogue, but it’s very popular is when somebody asks “hey, what’s up?”

E: Yeah, what’s up? So, again, what is the right way to answer this question?

M: Alright, so, when somebody says “what’s up”, you can say “well, not much” of if maybe you have news or something that you wanna share, you would say “well, I just got back from the doctor’s office”.

E: Yep.

M: Right? But you wouldn’t say “fine, thank you” or you wouldn’t say “very good” or any of these other common answers to “what’s up”.

E: That’s right!

M: It can be a little bit tricky.

E: Yeah, then… so, the rule is the normal thing to say when someone says “hey, what’s up?” is “nothing much”.

M: Not much.

E: Yeah.

M: Alright… so, interning ways of greeting casually with people, right? You wouldn’t use this for, ah… with your boss maybe or in an office setting.

E: Yeah, more… more useful with your friends.

M: Okay, so, if you have any other questions or have any other informal greetings that you would like to share with us, come to englishpod.com.

E: Yeah, Marco and I are always around to answer your questions and we look forward to hearing from you, so, until next time…

M: Bye!

E: Bye!

A: Mike! Hey, how are you, man! Long time no see!
B: Hey, Pat! Yeah, I haven’t seen you in ages! How are you?
A: I’m doing great! It’s funny running into you like this. Just last week I ran into Matt as well.
B: Yeah? How’s he doing?
A: He’s doing well. We went out for a couple of beers and the funniest thing happened.
B: Oh yeah?
A: Well, we were talking and catching up on what we’ve been doing, talking about work and family,when all of a sudden, Matt saw a mouse run under his chair and he completely lost it! He started freaking out, and screaming...
B: Ha ha, really?
A: Yeah, and the funniest thing was, that he jumped on to his chair and started shrieking like a girl.You had to be there! Everyone was staring and laughing... it was hilarious!