Past Continuous

The Past Continuous is used:

1) To talk about actions happening at a moment in the past:

At nine o’clock last night, I was watching TV. 

2) For two actions in progress at the same time:

I was reading a book while you were listening to music.

3) To talk about background information or a description in a story: 

The sun was shinning and the birds were singing.

 

Let’s check how the Past Continuous is formed:

Affirmative: SUBJ + WAS/WERE + ING

Negative: SUBJ + WAS/WERE + NOT + ING

Question: WAS/WERE + SUBJ + ING

 

Some adverbs used with Past Continuous:

• at that moment
• while, as
• at one o’clock

 

* IMPORTANT:

When one action in the past happens in the middle of another, we use the Simple Past and the Past Continuous together.

The phone rang while I was watching the movie.

 

You can practice Past Continuous with the following exercises:

Perfect English Grammar

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