1. The past simple Vs. Past continuous

2. The Past Continuous Tense
It was raining very hard when the bus left the school. When we arrived home, my Aunt Carol and Uncle Arthur were waiting for us. They told us to run into their basement. When I looked up the road, I saw that a tornado was coming towards our house. We all ran towards the shelter. But it was too late.
The tornado was passing over us while we were trying to get down the stairs. We were closing the door when the wind suddenly pulled it off. The noise was as loud as a train, and it was very dark. My uncle was holding me down when suddenly the tornado lifted him and threw him against a wall. Everybody was screaming for help while the tornado was throwing things on top of us. Suddenly the wind stopped. It became very quiet. My uncle and sister were hurt, but we all survived. 2

3. The Past Continuous Tense
Positive:
Subject + Past “to be” + Present Participle (-ing)
Negative:
Subject + Past “to be” + NOT + Present Participle (-ing)
Interrogative:
Past “to be” + Subject + Present Participle (-ing)? 3

4. The Past Continuous Tense4

5. The Past Continuous Tense
Spelling rules for adding –ing to the verb (I):
A. General rule: verb (base form) + ing.
e.g. eat, read, look, clean → eating, reading, looking, cleaning
B. Verbs ending with silent final -e drop the e, then add –ing.
e.g. love, live, make, take → loving, living, making, taking
C. 1- syllable verbs ending Consonant Vowel Consonant (CVC) double the final consonant, then add –ing.
e.g. run, sit, stop, swim → running, sitting, stopping, swimming 5

6. The Past Continuous Tense
Spelling rules for adding –ing to the verb (II):
D. 2- syllable verbs ending with stress on the las syllable, double the final consonant, then add –ing.
e.g. refer, begin, prefer, control → referring, beginning, preferring, controlling
E. Verbs ending –l double the final consonant, then add –ing.
e.g. travel, cancel → travelling, cancelling
F. Verbs ending –ie change –ie to –y, then add –ing.
e.g. die, lie → dying, lying 6

7. The Past Continuous Tense
TIME EXPRESSIONS
A concrete time in the past:
yesterday morning / afternoon / evening
at seven o’clock
two days / weeks / months ago
last night / Friday / week / month / year
while / as 7

8. The Past Continuous Tense
USES
We use the Past Continuous to:
Talk about actions in progress at a particular time in the past.
At seven o’clock, I was studying for my English test at home.
Describe two or more parallel actions which were happening at the same time in the past.
I was studying English while my parents were making dinner.
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.
When the phone rang, she was writing a letter. 8

9. Past Simple Vs. Past Continuous
CONTRAST: Past Simple and Past Continuous
We use PAST SIMPLE to describe actions finished at the time of speaking while we use PAST CONTINUOUS to talk about actions in progress at a particular time in the past.
Yesterday, I read a very interesting article on the newspaper.
I was reading a newspaper at half past ten.
We use PAST CONTINUOUS to indicate that a longer action in the past was interrupted. The interruption is usually a shorter action in the SIMPLE PAST. “When” is usually followed by PAST SIMPLE
We were sleeping when the phone rang.
While we were sleeping, the phone rang. 9