The Past

Continuous Tense
To show what somebody was doing at
a particular time in the past, we use
the Past Continuous Tense.
I was playing badminton
at this time yesterday.

She was cycling

at 9:00am yesterday.

They were playing

table tennis at 6:30 last night.

was / were verb+ing

 Simon 3:00 yesterday

was playing football at 3 pm yesterday.

Simon _________

The children 8 am yesterday

were going to school

The children __________
at 8 am yesterday.
Exercise.
Derek

Derek was swimming at 6 am yesterday.

Mandy

Mandy was feeding her dog at 4 oclock yesterday.

Sam & Jess

Sam and Jess were having dinner at 8 pm last night.

 Past Continuous Use
To talk about an action that was in progress (not
finished) at a time in the past.

At 6.30 I was having breakfast.

6.15 6.30 6.45

I started I finished
having breakfast. having breakfast.
 Affirmative.
1 I
3 He
3 She WAS verb ING.
3 It

2/4 You
5 We WERE verb ING.
6 They
 I was reading.
you were reading.
he was reading.
she was reading.
it was eating.
we were reading.
they were reading.
 Negative.
I
He
She WASNT verb ING.
It

You
We WERENT verb ING.
They
 I wasnt reading.
you werent reading.
he wasnt reading.
she wasnt reading.
it wasnt eating.
we werent reading.
they werent reading.
 Questions.
I
He
WAS She verb ING ?
It

You
WERE We verb ING ?
They
Was I reading?
Were you reading?
Was he reading?
Was she reading?
Was it eating?
Were we reading?
Were they reading?
 Short Answers.
Affirmative. Negative.

Yes, I No, I
Yes, He No, He
Yes, She WAS. No, She WERENT.
Yes, It No, It

Yes, You No, You

Yes, We WERE. No, We WASNT.
Yes, They No, They
 We often use
the past continuous and past simple tenses
in the same sentence.

We do this when we want to talk about

a shorter activity that happened
during a longer activity in the past.
 Sam hurt himself yesterday.
But when exactly?

when jumping over

the vaulting horse

Sam hurt himself when he was jumping over the vaulting horse.

shorter action longer action

 cut herself cut herself
Nancy ___________when
was peeling
she ___________an apple.
peel an apple

were watching TV watch TV

They _______________
arrived
when I ___________.
arrive

play football were playing football

We ____________
when it suddenly _______.
rained
rain
 A fire broke out
at 8 oclock last night!
What were the people
doing when the fire
broke out?
 Sometimes we use the past continuous tense
to talk about two or more actions
which were taking place at the same time
in the past.

Example

I was playing TV games while mother was cooking.

We were studying while the baby was crying.

 Its 3:00pm last Sunday. What were they doing?

Example
Grandfather was reading the newspaperwhil grandmother was knitting.
whil eNicky was drawing a picture.
Cindy was listening to the Hi-fi
whil emother was drinking some water.
Father was sleeping
e
 What were they doing one hour later?

Exercise
was watching while grandmother____________.
Grandfather ____________TV was knitting
was her homework while Nicky ____________to
dy _________ was listening the Hi-
doing
was drinking
Father ____________ beer while mother was boiling
___________ some wate
 What was the woman
in flat 4A doing when
the fire broke out?

was knitting
She _____________
when the fire broke out.
 What were the couple
in flat 4B doing when
the fire broke out?

The couplewere singing

___________
karaoke songs when
the fire broke out.
 What were the couple
in flat 3A doing when
the fire broke out?

The couplewere having

___________
dinner when the fire
broke out.
 What was the woman
in flat 3B doing when
the fire broke out?

The woman __________

was talking
on the phone when
the fire broke out.
 What was the man
in flat 2A doing when
the fire broke out?

The man in Flat 2A

was
___________ a suitcase
packing
when the fire broke out.
 What was the boy
in flat 2B doing when
the fire broke out?

The boy in Flat 2B

was
___________ TV games
playing
when the fire broke out.
 What was the woman
in flat 1A doing when
the fire broke out?

The woman in Flat 1A

was
__________ up her flat
tidying
when the fire broke out.
 What were the women
in flat 1B doing when
the fire broke out?

The women in Flat 1B

were
___________ mahjong
playing
when the fire broke out.
 Past Continuous and Past Simple
Use
Use the Past continuous and the Past simple to
say what was happening when something else
happened.
The action in the Past simple interrupts the
action in the Past continuous.
Use when to join the two actions.

I was riding my bicycle when I fell.

I was riding my bicycle when I fell.
It is also used to:
-describe two actions that were both
continuing at the same time in the past.
In this case we use past continuous for
both actions.

While I was reading. Mary was sleeping.

Notes:
-When you talk about things in the past, when is
most often followed by the simple past, whereas
while is usually followed by past continuous.
-While expresses the idea of during that
time.

I was writing an e-mail when my computer went

off.

While I was writing an e-mail, my

computer went off.