Past Continuous

f t g+ p

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.

Complete List of Past Continuous Forms

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.
 What were you doing when the earthquake started?
 I was listening to my iPod, so I didn't hear the fire alarm.
 You were not listening to me when I told you to turn the oven off.
 While John was sleeping last night, someone stole his car.
 Sammy was waiting for us when we got off the plane.
 While I was writing the email, the computer suddenly went off.
 A: What were you doing when you broke your leg?
B: I was snowboarding.

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?
 I wasn't paying attention while I was writing the letter, so I made several mistakes.
 What were you doing while you were waiting?
 Thomas wasn't working, and I wasn't working either.
 They were eating dinner, discussing their plans, and having a good time.

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?
ACTIVE / PASSIVE

Examples:

 The salesman was helping the customer when the thief came into the store. Active
 The customer was being helped by the salesman when the thief came into the store.
Passive

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/pastcontinuous.html
Past continuous tense dibentuk dengan auxiliary verb “be”, berupa was/were – karena past
tense (masa lalu), dan present participle. Was untuk singular subject (I, she, he, it, dan kata
ganti orang ketiga) dan were untuk plural subject (you, they, we, orang ketiga jamak).

Tense ini umumnya hanya terjadi pada aksi berupa dynamic verb, tidak stative verb karena
secara umum hanya dynamic verb yang memiliki bentuk continuous.

Lihat juga:

 Stative Verb dengan Bentuk Progressive

Jenis Kalimat Rumus Contoh

The team was running

positif
S + be (was/were) + present participle (v-ing)
(+) The workers were queuing

The team was not running

negatif
S + be (was/were) + not + present participle (v-ing)
(-)
The workers weren’t queuing

Was the team running

interogatif
be (was/were) + S + present participle (v-ing)?
(?)
Were the workers queuing

Beberapa Fungsi dan Contoh Kalimat Past Continuous Tense

Fungsi Contoh kalimat

I was shopping at this time

yesterday.
(Saya sedang belanja pada
jam ini kemarin.)

What was she doing at 5

am this morning?
Past continuous tense untuk mengindikasikan suatu aksi yang terjadi
(Apa yang sedang dia
selama momen tertentu di masa lampau.
lakukan jam 5 pagi ini?)

They were roasting corn at

this time last night.
(Mereka sedang membakar
jagung pada jam ini kemarin
malam.)
 I was doing physically
exercises all day yesterday.
(Saya sedang melakukan
latihan-latihan fisik
sepanjang hari kemarin.)

She was sleeping when you

called her.
Untuk menunjukkan bahwa ada aksi berdurasi pendek (simple past (Dia sedang tidur ketika
kamu meneleponnya.)
tense) yang terjadi ketika suatu aksi berdurasi panjang (past
continuous tense) sedang berlangsung. Subordinate The door was knocked
conjunction “when” atau “while” dapat digunakan while I was studying.
(Pintu diketuk ketika saya
sedang belajar.)

The girl was always yelling

out loud.
(Anak itu selalu menjerit
keras-keras.)
Past continuous tense digunakan untuk mengolok-olok atau
mengkritik aksi yang terjadi pada interval acak namun sebenarnya My neighbor was always
merupakan kebiasaan alami. chasing stray cats off with
his broom.
(Tetangga saya selalu
mengusir kucing-kucing liar
dengan sapunya.)

http://www.wordsmile.com/rumus-contoh-kalimat-passive-past-continuous-tense
Functions of the Past continuous

The past continuous describes actions or events in a time before now, which began in the
past and is still going on at the time of speaking. In other words, it expresses an unfinished
or incomplete action in the past.

It is used:

 Often, to describe the background in a story written in the past tense, e.g. "The sun was
shining and the birds were singing as the elephant came out of the jungle. The other animals
were relaxing in the shade of the trees, but the elephant moved very quickly. She was
looking for her baby, and she didn't notice the hunter who was watching her through his
binoculars. When the shot rang out, she was running towards the river..."
 to describe an unfinished action that was interrupted by another event or action, e.g. "I was
having a beautiful dream when the alarm clock rang."
 to express a change of mind: e.g. "I was going to spend the day at the beach but I've decided
to get my homework done instead."
 with 'wonder', to make a very polite request: e.g. "I was wondering if you could baby-sit for
me tonight."

Examples

 They were waiting for the bus when the accident happened.
 Caroline was skiing when she broke her leg.
 When we arrived he was having a bath.
 When the fire started I was watching television.

Note: with verbs not normally used in the continuous form, the simple past is used.

Forming the Past continuous

The past continuous of any verb is composed of two parts : the past tense of the verb "to be"
(was/were), and the base of the main verb +ing.

Subject was/were base + ing

They were watching

Affirmative

She was reading

Negative

She wasn't reading

Interrogative
Subject was/were base + ing

Was she reading?

Interrogative negative

Wasn't she reading?

To play, past continuous

Affirmative Negative Interrogative

I was playing I was not playing Was I playing?

You were playing You were not playing Were you playing?

He was playing He wasn't playing Was he playing?

We were playing We weren't playing Were we playing?

They were playing They weren't playing Were they playing?

http://www.ef.com/english-resources/english-grammar/past-continuous-tense/