PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE

PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE
In the Past Continuous tense, the action was ongoing till a certain time in the past. This tense is used to talk about an action at a particular time in the past.

POSITIVE STATEMENTS

SUBJECT	WAS / WERE	VERB + ing	REST OF THE SENTENCE
I	was	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.
You	were	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.
He	was	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.
John	was	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.
The boy	was	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.
She	was	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.
Angel	was	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.
The girl	was	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.
We	were	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.
You	were	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.
They	were	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.
The children	were	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.

NEGATIVE STATEMENTS

SUBJECT	WAS NOT/ WERE NOT	VERB + ing	REST OF THE SENTENCE
I	was not	listening	to music at 4 p.m. yesterday.
You	were not	listening	to music at 4 p.m. yesterday.
He	was not	listening	to music at 4 p.m. yesterday.
John	was not	listening	to music at 4 p.m. yesterday.
The boy	was not	listening	to music at 4 p.m. yesterday.
She	was not	listening	to music at 4 p.m. yesterday.
Angel	was not	listening	to music at 4 p.m. yesterday.
The girl	was not	listening	to music at 4 p.m. yesterday.
We	were not	listening	to music at 4 p.m. yesterday.
You	were not	listening	to music at 4 p.m. yesterday.
They	were not	listening	to music at 4 p.m. yesterday.
The men	were not	listening	to music at 4 p.m. yesterday.

INTERROGATIVE STATEMENTS / QUESTIONS

WAS / WERE	SUBJECT	VERB (in base form)	REST OF THE SENTENCE
Was	I	eating	breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday?
Were	you	eating	breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday?
Was	he	eating	breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday?
Was	John	eating	breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday?
Was	the boy	eating	breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday?
Was	she	eating	breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday?
Was	Angel	eating	breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday?
Was	the girl	eating	breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday?
Were	we	eating	breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday?
Were	you	eating	breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday?
Were	they	eating	breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday?
Were	the men	eating	breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday?

I was singing
The past continuous tense is an important tense in English. We use it to say what we were in the middle of doing at a particular moment in the past.
How do we make the Past Continuous Tense?
The structure of the past continuous tense is:

subject	+	auxiliary verb BE	+	main verb
		conjugated in simple past tense		present participle
		was were		base + ing

For negative sentences in the past continuous tense, we insert not between the auxiliary verb and main verb. For question sentences, we exchange the subject and auxiliary verb. Look at these example sentences with the past continuous tense:

	subject	auxillary verb		main verb
+	I	was		watching	TV
+	You	were		working	hard
	He, she, it	was	not	helping	Mary
	We	were	not	joking
?	Were	you		being	silly?
?	Were	they		playing	football?

How do we use the Past Continuous Tense?
The past continuous tense expresses action at a particular moment in the past. The action started before that moment but has not finished at that moment. For example, yesterday I watched a film on TV. The film started at 7pm and finished at 9pm.

past	present future
At 8pm yesterday, I was watching TV.	At 8pm, I was in the middle of watching TV .

When we use the past continuous tense, our listener usually knows or understands what time we are talking about. Look at these examples:

• I was working at 10pm last night.
• They were not playing football at 9am this morning.
• What were you doing at 10pm last night?
• What were you doing when he arrived?
• She was cooking when I telephoned her.
• We were having dinner when it started to rain.
• Ram went home early because it was snowing.

Some verbs cannot be used in
continuous/progressive tenses.
We often use the past continuous tense to "set the scene" in stories. We use it to describe the background situation at the moment when the action begins. Often, the story starts with the past continuous tense and then moves into the simple past tense. Here is an example:
" James Bond was driving through town. It was raining. The wind was blowing hard. Nobody was walking in the streets. Suddenly, Bond saw the killer in a telephone box..."
Past Continuous Tense + Simple Past Tense
We often use the past continuous tense with the simple past tense. We use the past continuous tense to express a long action. And we use the simple past tense to express a short action that happens in the middle of the long action. We can join the two ideas with when or while.
In the following example, we have two actions:
1. long action (watching TV), expressed with past continuous tense
2. short action (telephoned), expressed with simple past tense

past	present	future
Long action.
I was watching TV at 8pm. 8pm You telephoned at 8pm.
Short action.

We can join these two actions with when:

• I was watching TV when you telephoned.

(Notice that "when you telephoned" is also a way of defining the time [8pm].)
We use:

• when + short action (simple past tense)
• while + long action (past continuous tense)

There are four basic combinations:

	I was walking past the car	when	it exploded.
when	the car exploded		I was walking past it.
	The car exploded	while	I was walking past it.
While	I was walking past the car		it exploded.

Notice that the long action and short action are relative.

• Notice that the long action and short action are relative.
• "Walking past the car" took a few seconds. "Exploded" took a few milliseconds

I was singing
The past continuous tense is an important tense in English. We use it to say what we were in the middle of doing at a particular moment in the past.
How do we make the Past Continuous Tense?
The structure of the past continuous tense is:

subject	+	auxiliary verb BE	+	main verb
		conjugated in simple past tense		present participle
		was were		base + ing

For negative sentences in the past continuous tense, we insert not between the auxiliary verb and main verb. For question sentences, we exchange the subject and auxiliary verb. Look at these example sentences with the past continuous tense:

	subject	auxillary verb		main verb
+	I	was		watching	TV
+	You	were		working	hard
	He, she, it	was	not	helping	Mary
	We	were	not	joking
?	Were	you		being	silly?
?	Were	they		playing	football?

How do we use the Past Continuous Tense?
The past continuous tense expresses action at a particular moment in the past. The action started before that moment but has not finished at that moment. For example, yesterday I watched a film on TV. The film started at 7pm and finished at 9pm.

past	present future
At 8pm yesterday, I was watching TV.	At 8pm, I was in the middle of watching TV .

When we use the past continuous tense, our listener usually knows or understands what time we are talking about. Look at these examples:

I was working at 10pm last night.

They were not playing football at 9am this morning.

What were you doing at 10pm last night?

What were you doing when he arrived?

She was cooking when I telephoned her.

We were having dinner when it started to rain.

Ram went home early because it was snowing.

Some verbs cannot be used in
continuous/progressive tenses.
We often use the past continuous tense to "set the scene" in stories. We use it to describe the background situation at the moment when the action begins. Often, the story starts with the past continuous tense and then moves into the simple past tense. Here is an example:
" James Bond was driving through town. It was raining. The wind was blowing hard. Nobody was walking in the streets. Suddenly, Bond saw the killer in a telephone box..."
Past Continuous Tense + Simple Past Tense
We often use the past continuous tense with the simple past tense. We use the past continuous tense to express a long action. And we use the simple past tense to express a short action that happens in the middle of the long action. We can join the two ideas with when or while.
In the following example, we have two actions:
1. long action (watching TV), expressed with past continuous tense
2. short action (telephoned), expressed with simple past tense

past	present	future
Long action.
I was watching TV at 8pm. 8pm You telephoned at 8pm.
Short action.

We can join these two actions with when:

I was watching TV when you telephoned.

(Notice that "when you telephoned" is also a way of defining the time [8pm].)
We use:

when + short action (simple past tense)

while + long action (past continuous tense)

There are four basic combinations:

	I was walking past the car	when	it exploded.
when	the car exploded		I was walking past it.
	The car exploded	while	I was walking past it.
While	I was walking past the car		it exploded.

Notice that the long action and short action are relative.

Notice that the long action and short action are relative.

"Walking past the car" took a few seconds. "Exploded" took a few milliseconds