The Past Continuous Tense

Use 1: Past actions that were in progress at a particular time in Use 1: Past actions that were in progress at a particular time in the past; actions that were not yet finished at a past time Erika’s Schedule 8 – 9: had breakfast 9 – 10: finished her homework 10 – 11: exercised 11 – 12: cooked lunch 12 – 2: shopped 2 – 5: talked to a friend on the phone At 8:30, Erika breakfast. At 9:15, she her homework. At 10:15, she . At 11:30, she lunch . At 1, she . At 3, she to a friend. Was having Was exercising Was shopping Was finishing Was cooking Was talking

Use 2: Two (or more) actions that were in progress in the past at the same time Use while Examples: Sorry, I wasn’t listening to you while you were talking. While I was reading, he was writing.

Form: Using past and past continuous together Use past continuous to say what was in progress I was crossing the street … Use simple past for the interrupting action when the driver ran the red light.

Other examples: I was sleeping when the telephone rang and woke me up. He was driving too fast when he crashed the car.

More Examples: We were watching the news when the announcer made a special live report. I was trying to study when you called.

Practice: Do you have a good memory? Are you a good witness? Directions: Look at the following picture for one minute. Try to remember as many details as you can, but don’t write anything.

Only one minute… Ready, go ….

One minute…

What do you remember? How many people were there? Where were the people? What was hanging from the ceiling? What was the bank robber holding? What was the bank robber wearing? What color was his hair? Was the bank robber right-handed or left-handed? What was the bank manager doing? What was the bank teller doing? Who was walking into the bank? What time was it? What was under the bank manager’s desk?

Form of Past Continuous Subject + was / were + verb+ing Negation: Subject + was / were + not + verb+ing Yes/ No Question: Was / Were + subject + + verb+ing ? Information Question: (WH) + Was / Were + subject + + verb+ing ?

Remember –ing spelling rules? Verb ending in... How to make the -ING form Examples (Most verbs) Add -ING say - saying go - going walk - walking 1 vowel + 1 consonant Double the consonant, then add -ING swim - swimming hit - hitting get - getting 1 vowel + 1 consonant + E Final –ie Remove E, then add –ING Change –ie to y, then add -ING come - coming lose - losing live – living die – dying tie -- tying

Negative sentences A: Was the man writing at 6p.m. yesterday? B: No, he wasn’t. The man was not writing . He was reading a newspaper. read A: Were they chatting at 8 yesterday? B: No, they weren’t. They weren’t chatting . They were discussing a project. discuss a project A: Was the girl singing at 4p.m. yesterday? B: No, she wasn’t. She was not singing . She was dancing to the music . dance

What was/were … doing at that time?

The worm was eating while the dog was reading . Two long actions went on at the same time . We were clapping our hands while the performers were marching across the park .

Past Continuous Tense+ when A: What was he doing when you arrived? B: He was doing his maths homework He was doing his maths homework when I arrived.

A: What happened while you were having supper? B: My friend came to see me. My friend came to see me while I was having supper? He was doing his maths homework when I arrived.

While Amy was reading yesterday, Suzy____________ on the sofa. The telephone ___________ while Suzy _____________ on the sofa. was sleeping rang was sleeping While Eddie was sleeping yesterday, Daniel ____________the computer game. Kitty ___________ beside Daniel. was playing was standing was looking Peter ___________ at some photos when Millie _______ him a pencil. gave

Punctuation with When and While When and while at the front of a sentence, use a comma: When you called, I was watching TV. While he was washing the clothes, I was doing the dishes. When and while in the middle of a sentence, no comma I was watching TV when you called. I was doing the dishes while he was washing the clothes.

Final Tips … Use while for two actions in progress at the same time in the past: She was talking while he was driving. Use when when telling about sequence of events (one action that was in progress that was interrupted by another event in the past): I was just leaving when you called. (first action in progress) (interrupting event)