There are many different ways of talking about the past in English and they can be quite confusing to learners because often they are complex and the same grammatical forms of verbs are used in different ways. This book aims to simplify things for you by focusing on the meaning before the grammar. It highlights ten different meanings through a series of basic questions that you can use to contrast the different verb forms and patterns in context. The context comes in 20 strange but true stories from history which have been selected because of their entertainment value. Each story is followed by two activities, the first is to help you recognise the different meanings and the verb forms that go with them. The second is to encourage you to take the first steps in using the verbs. The book is the second in the Vocabulary Detective series and, as a bonus, the title of each story is a common English expression, the meaning of which is illustrated by the story. Off to a bad start Brushes with death A nice cuppa A formidable woman First impressions The last laugh Prophet of doom Tragedy plus time Too good to be true Scared out of their wits Raise your glasses The last straw When royal heads rolled The fruits of his labour Nothing new under the sun The diamond sting Punctured pride Famous writer pilloried Bearding the lions in their den The haves and the have-nots