Past Continuous / Progressive

23 December 2014 by Diane

Subject + was/were + verb-ing

I was speaking.  You were speaking.  He/she/it was speaking.  We were speaking.  They were speaking.

Duration in the past: We use the Past Continuous to talk about continuous actions or situations in the past.  It is commonly used to describe the longer action when we have two actions in the past.

Examples:

• What were you doing last night at 10pm?  I was watching TV.
• What was your sister doing?  She was sleeping on the couch.

Interrupted actions: The Past Continuous is often used when one action in progress is interrupted by another action in the past. We usually use when or while to link these two sentences.

Sentence in Past Continuous	WHEN	Sentence in Past Simple
I was singing		my wife came home

WHILE	Sentence in Past Continuous	Sentence in Past Simple
	I was singing	my wife came home

Examples: Remember the longer action should be past continuous!

BOB PAINTS WINDOWS  1pm - 4pm
IT STARTS TO RAIN            3:45pm
While Bob was painting the windows, it started to rain.

EAT DINNER   6pm - 6:15pm
TELEPHONE RINGS  6:10pm
I was talking eating dinner when the telephone rang.