Ingles

Past Continuous

Form the past continuous with was or were and a present participle
               What were you doing last night at eight?  I was watching TV
              Was the car making that noise this morning ? Yes, It Was / No, It wasn't

The past continuous shows an action that continued during a period of time in the past.
The simple past tense shows an action that occurred and then ended

                       past continuous             simple past tense
                     I was going too fast when i had the accident

The past continuous:

The past continuous, also called past progressive, is used to refer to an action that was continuous (i.e. an action that was going on) at a particular time in the past.
This page will present the form and the use of the past continuous (progressive.)
(More on the present continuous / progressive)
Before you continue the lesson, read the following passage and try to see how the verbs in bold are formed and used.

Yesterday, Liza and Jim played tennis. They began at 10:00 and finished at 11:30. So at 11:00, they were playing tennis. They were playing="they were in the middle of playing." They had not finished yet. Was/were playing is the past continuous.

The form of the past continuous:

The past continuous is formed as follows:

to be in the simple past	+ verb	+ ing

The affirmative form:

I, he, she, it	was	playing.
you, we, they	were

Examples:

• Yesterday evening I was watching a film, when someone knocked on the door.
• This morning I was revising my lessons when my father came in.
• Jim and Liza were playing tennis yesterday at 11:00.

The interrogative form:

Was	I, he, she, it	Playing?
were	you, we, they

Examples:

• What were you doing yesterday evening?
• And what was your mother doing?
• Where were you going, this morning at 7:30?
• What were Jim and Liza doing?

The negative form:

I, he, she, it	was not / wasn't	playing.
you, we, they	were not / weren't

Examples:

• I wasn't reading a book yesterday evening; I was watching a film.
• My mother wasn't preparing dinner; she was working on the computer.
• We weren't playing cards.

 

Exercises:

Fill in all the gaps, then press "Check" to check your answers. 1 I  letters all day yesterday. (write) 2 You  very slow about it. (be) 3 You  on the phone for hours and hours. (talk) 4 They  much business before lunch. (do NEGATIVE) 5 She  to me all week. Silly cow. (speak NEGATIVE) 6 It  for long. (rain NEGATIVE) 7 What  you  when I phoned yesterday? (do) 8  you  TV when it happened? (watch) 9 What  you  at the party? (wear) 10 He  horrible to everyone, the nasty pig! (be)

Past Continuous pages: English page

     English Grammar