M: Hello English learners! Welcome back to EnglishPod! My name isMarco. 
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 continuous. 
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”? 
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 un-
der 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!
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-five, 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 startedshrieking. 
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. 
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 un-
der 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!
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 thepast 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 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 or 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? 
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 un-
der 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!
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 toenglishpod.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!