It happened in the past. What tense do I use?

I know that all of us have hard times talking about the past. I mean the moments when you have to choose between the Past Simple, the Past Continuous, the Past Perfect and so on. Which one do you use?
This article will help you to learn making the choice. You will still make some mistakes, but less of them.
Here is a site where you can practice using past tenses. Click it and you`ll see it. In fact, it is an article with a practice section below it, and, of course, it is a British site.

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/verbs/talking-about-past

Also, here is a chart on different tenses to help you understand them through comparison:

13 July 2014

My student visited the USA

This spring my student, Oleg Orlov, realised his dream to visit the Great Canyon. He had spent half a year studying English with me (and, also, he had done some hard work before our course). Then he came to New York, and took a plane to Los Angeles, and there he took a flight to Miami. Of course, he complained that sometimes he could not understand some people. He said they spoke too fast and used unknown words. But, it didn`t prevent Oleg from meeting with condors. Here are some photos of his dream`s:

1) New York, Manhattan, Central Park

All photos above were taken by and belong to Oleg Orlov.

P.S. Those of you who can`t wait should visit these places on Google Street View:

1) Manhattan, Central Park, New York

2, 3) The Grand Canyon

4) The Empire State Building, New York

5) Brooklyn Bridge, New York

6) The Statue of Liberty, New York

7) The Empire State Building, New York

8) The Brooklyn Bridge, New York

9) World Financial Center in the distance.

10) Rockefeller plaza

11) Hollywood Walk of Fame, Los Angeles

 

11 July 2014

You’re the APPLE OF MY EYE

Yes, you, my readers, are the apple of my eye. You are precious to me.
Как переводится “the apple of smb’s eye”? Как перевести “be the apple of somebody’s eye”?
Перевод с английского будет “ты свет моих очей/ты свет моих глаз”.
I have a day-off today, so here is the result:

Свет моих глаз по-английски.

This image belongs to Worth1000.com

This image isn`t mine.

                                                                 ORIGIN
This phrase came to (читать другую статью) English from Latin in the 9th century. Originally it meant ‘the pupil of the eye’. Here is how the original book and its translation looked:

From the Hebrew to Latin to Old English.

                                                            WHAT NATIVES SAY

“You are the apple of my eye” from Alex Iswearenglish, who helped with the video example here:

4 July 2014

UPD: 6 may 2016 (the origin).