Past Continuous FORM [was/were + present participle] Examples: You were studying when she called. Were you studying when she called? You were not studying when she called. USE 1 Interrupted Action in the Past Use the Past Continuous to indicate that a longer action in the past was interrupted. The interruption is usually a shorter action in the Simple Past. Remember this can be a real interruption or just an interruption in time. Examples: I was watching TV when she called. When the phone rang, she was writing a letter. While we were having the picnic, it started to rain. . USE 2 Specific Time as an Interruption In USE 1, described above, the Past Continuous is interrupted by a shorter action in the Simple Past. However, you can also use a specific time as an interruption. Examples: Last night at 6 PM, I was eating dinner. At midnight, we were still driving through the desert. Yesterday at this time, I was sitting at my desk at work. IMPORTANT In the Simple Past, a specific time is used to show when an action began or finished. In the Past Continuous, a specific time only interrupts the action. Examples: Last night at 6 PM, I ate dinner. I STARTED EATING AT 6 PM. Last night at 6 PM, I was eating dinner. I STARTED EARLIER; AND AT 6 PM, I WAS IN THE PROCESS OF EATING DINNER. USE 3 Parallel Actions When you use the Past Continuous with two actions in the same sentence, it expresses the idea that both actions were happening at the same time. The actions are parallel. Examples: I was studying while he was making dinner. While Ellen was reading, Tim was watching television. Were you listening while he was talking? USE 4 Atmosphere In English, we often use a series of parallel actions to describe the atmosphere at a particular time in the past. Example: When I walked into the office, several people were busily typing, some were talking on the phones, the boss was yelling directions, and customers were waiting to be helped. One customer was yelling at a secretary and waving his hands. Others were complaining to each other about the bad service. USE 5 Repetition and Irritation with "Always" The Past Continuous with words such as "always" or "constantly" expresses the idea that something irritating or shocking often happened in the past. The concept is very similar to the expression "used to" but with negative emotion. Remember to put the words "always" or "constantly" between "be" and "verb+ing." Examples: She was always coming to class late. He was constantly talking. He annoyed everyone. I didn't like them because they were always complaining. While vs. When Clauses are groups of words which have meaning, but are often not complete sentences. Some clauses begin with the word "when" such as "when she called" or "when it bit me." Other clauses begin with "while" such as "while she was sleeping" and "while he was surfing." When you talk about things in the past, "when" is most often followed by the verb tense Simple Past, whereas "while" is usually followed by Past Continuous. "While" expresses the idea of "during that time." Study the examples below. They have similar meanings, but they emphasize different parts of the sentence. Examples: I was studying when she called. While I was studying, she called. REMEMBER Non-Continuous Verbs / Mixed Verbs It is important to remember that Non-Continuous Verbs cannot be used in any continuous tenses. Also, certain non-continuous meanings for Mixed Verbs cannot be used in continuous tenses. Instead of using Past Continuous with these verbs, you must use Simple Past. Examples: Jane was being at my house when you arrived. Not Correct Jane was at my house when you arrived. Correct ADVERB PLACEMENT The examples below show the placement for grammar adverbs such as: always, only, never, ever, still, just, etc. Examples: You were just studying when she called. Were you just studying when she called? Source 2 Past Continuous 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. Note that continuous tenses are also called progressive tenses. So the Past Continuous tense is sometimes called the Past Progressive tense. How do we make the Past Continuous tense? The structure of the past continuous tense is: subject + auxiliary be + main verb conjugated in Past Simple was, were present participle The auxiliary verb (be) is conjugated in the Past Simple: was, were The main verb is invariable in present participle form: -ing For negative sentences we insert not between the auxiliary verb and the main verb. For question sentences, we exchange the subject and the auxiliary verb. Look at these example sentences with the Past Continuous tense: subject auxiliary 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? The spelling rules for adding -ing to make the Past Continuous tense are the same as for the Present Continuous tense. 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. At 8pm yesterday, I was watching TV. past present 8pm future 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. Note that 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 Past Simple 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 + Past Simple We often use the Past Continuous tense with the Past Simple tense. We use the Past Continuous to express a long action. And we use the Past Simple 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 2. short action (telephoned), expressed with Past Simple past long action: I was watching TV from 7pm to 9pm. present 8pm short action: You phoned at 8pm. We can join these two actions with when: future 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 (Past Simple) while + long action (Past Continuous) There are four basic combinations: I was walking past the car when it exploded. I was walking past it. When the car exploded The car exploded while I was walking past it. it exploded. While I was walking past the car Notice that the long action and short action are relative. "Watching TV" took two hours. "Telephoned" took a few seconds. "Walking past the car" took a few seconds. "Exploded" took milliseconds.
