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Past Continuous Tense

PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE

PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE

The Past Continuous tense is an important tense in English. We use it to say what we were in the middle of doing at a particular moment in the past.

In this lesson we look at the structure and the use of the Past Continuous tense, followed by a quiz to check your understanding.

Note that continuous tenses are also called progressive tenses. So the Past Continuous tense is sometimes called the Past Progressive tense.

How do we make the Past Continuous tense?

The structure of the past continuous tense is:

subject + auxiliary be + main verb
conjugated in Past Simple
was, were present participle

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:

subject auxiliary verb main verb
+ I was watching TV.
+ You were working hard.
He, she, it was not helping Mary.
We were not joking.
? Were you being silly?
? Were they playing football?
The spelling rules for adding -ing to make the Past Continuous tense are the same as for the Present 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.

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At 8pm yesterday, I was watching TV.
past present future
8pm
At 8pm, I was in the middle of watching TV.

When we use the Past Continuous tense, our listener usually knows or understands what time we are talking about.

Look at these examples:

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.

Note that some verbs cannot be used in continuous/progressive tenses.

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:

“James Bond was driving through town. It was raining. The wind was blowing hard. Nobody was walking in the streets. Suddenly, Bond saw the killer in a telephone box…”

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.

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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
past present future
long action:
I was watching TV from 7pm to 9pm.
8pm
short action:
You phoned at 8pm.

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:

I was walking past the car when it exploded.
When the car exploded I was walking past it.
The car exploded while I was walking past it.
While I was walking past the car it exploded.

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 Quiz

You can do this grammar quiz. It tests what you learned on the Past Continuous page.

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1. My brother and sister _____ playing tennis at 11am yesterday.

 are
 was
 were

2. _____ you still working at 7pm last night?

 Were
 Are
 Was

3. At 8.30am today I _____ driving to work.

 was
 am
 were

4. We _____ sleeping when the police came.

 was
 weren’t
 won’t

5. Why _____ he having lunch at 4pm?

 was
 does
 were

PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE

6. Was he not _____ his homework?

 doing
 do
 done

7. Snow _____ lightly. Suddenly a reindeer appeared.

 fell
 was falling
 is falling

8. Somebody threw a shoe at him _____ he was speaking.

 after
 when
 while

9. They ________ TV when I arrived.

 were watching
 were watched
 watched

10. I was reading a detective story _____ I heard a noise.

 during
 while
 when

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