Past Continuous

TenseWe use this tense to talk about actions that were going on, or happening at a certain moment in the past. At this time last Saturday, Paul was playing in the park with his friends.

We often use past continuous tosay what was in progress, whensomething happened: The phone rang while I was doing my homework. I was reading a comic book whilemy sister was watching TV. When I was walking along the road, I saw a car hit a motorbike.

Key words

1. While

2. Interruption

Last night, while I was sleeping,

the sound of the broken window

woke me up.

Form

Affirmative(Declarative)

- I, He, She, It + was + v-ing

I was studying.

He was playing.

- You, We, They + were + v-ing

You were reading.

They were sleeping.

Use

Negative form

- I, He, She, It + wasn’t(not) + v-ing

I wasn’t (not) studying.

He wasn’t (not) playing.

- You, We, They + weren’t(not) + v-ing

You weren’t (not) reading.

They weren’t (not) sleeping.

Question form

- Was + He, She, It + v-ing?

Was he working?

- Were + you, we, they + v-ing?

Were they working?

Short answers

- Yes, he, she, it + was.

you, we, they were.

- No, he, she, it + wasn’t.

you, we, they + weren’t.

Use

Use

- It was raining on Monday so we didn’t

play football.

- Don’t turn the radio off! I was listening

to it.

We use the simple past to talk about a complete action(long or short). We use

past continuous for actions which were

not complete at a past time.

Use

- Jack got up at 6.00 and worked from

8 a.m. - 3 p.m.

- At 8 p.m., when Jack came home, I

was reading cartoon book.

We often use the past continuous and

the past simple together with while.

Past continuous: longer action or situation

Past simple: complete shorter action that

happened during the longer action.

Use

- While I was having dinner, the phone

rang.

- While I was talking to my brother, Bill

came in.

were dancing.

was cooking dinner.

was driving home.

was not watching T.V.

“Enjoy learning my students”