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
|
||
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?
|
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