Past Continuous Tense – Examples, Rules and Exercise

PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE

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NOTES

The Meaning of Past Continuous Tense

The
past continuous tense is used to describe actions that began in the past and
often continued for a short period of time after the action started. This tense
describes actions or events that happened at a specific time in the past. These
actions are usually no longer happening at the time the sentence is being said
or written.

The
past continuous (past progressive) is a verb tense which is used to show that
an ongoing past action was happening at a specific moment of interruption, or
that two ongoing actions were happening at the same time. Read on for detailed
descriptions, examples, and past continuous exercises.

Past
continuous tense expresses the actions or task that were ongoing in the
past. We cannot determine when the action started or finished. For example,
When I was walking yesterday, it started raining.

The
past continuous describes actions or events in a time before now, which
began in the past and were still going on when another event
occurred.

The
past continuous tense refers to a continuing action or state that was happening
at some point in the past. The past continuous tense is formed by combining the
past tense of to be (i.e., was/were)
with the verb’s present participle (-ing
word).

How do we make the Past Continuous tense?

The structure of the past continuous tense is:

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:

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.

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.

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:

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

We can join these two actions with when:

• 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:

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.

Past Continuous Uses

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.

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.

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.

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.

USE 4 Atmosphere

In English, we often use a series of parallel actions to describe the atmosphere at a particular time in the past.

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.