PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE

PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE He started to cook the meal at 6.00. He cooked the meal at 7.00. He was cooking the meal at 6.30.

Julia dancing. was sleeping. were They

Were you studying at home at 6 o’clock yesterday? Yes, I was. / No, I wasn’t. Was she feeding the baby at 8 o’clock yesterday? Yes, she was. / No, she wasn’t.

e.g. At 7 o’clock yesterday morning I was driving to work. We use the past continuous to talk about an action that was in progress at a specific time in the past. e.g. At 7 o’clock yesterday morning I was driving to work.

e.g. I was sleeping when the phone rang. When one action interrupts another, we use the past continuous and the past simple together in one sentence. We use the past continuous (was sleeping) for the longer action and the past simple ( rang) for the shorter “interrupting”action. e.g. I was sleeping when the phone rang. OR When the phone rang, I was sleeping. ( = I was in the middle of sleeping; then the phone rang.)

___________ But we use the past simple ( NOT past continuous) when one action followed another. e.g. When the phone rang, I woke up. (First the phone rang; then I woke up.)

We use past continuous with while to talk about two actions in progress at the same time in the past. e.g. While I was studying, my sister was listening to music. OR My sister was listening to music while I was studying.

Time expressions we use with the past continuous : when while / as when + while/as + past continuous (longer action) when + past simple (shorter action) e.g. While I was waiting for the bus, I met David. When the lights went out, I was reading in bed.

e.g. I had a headache last night. We don’t use the past continuous with verbs not used in the continuous form ( know, want, etc.) e.g. I had a headache last night. ___________ (was having) e.g. She wanted to eat out yesterday. ______________ (was wanting)

Exercise: Put the words in the right order. 1 We / talk / the beach(+) We were talking on the beach. ……………………………. 2 My sister/ travel/in Swiss(?) My sister was travelling in Swiss. ………………………………..

Exercise: Put the words in the right order. 3 We/ visit/monastery/ China (+) We were visiting the monastery in China. …………………………………………… 4 Some women/ dance/ temple (-) Some women were dancing in the temple. ……………………………………………..

Exercise: Put the words in the right order. 5 We/ eat/ fish/ the beach (+) We were eating fish on the beach. ………………………………………… 6 You/ swim/ the Caribbean (?) You were swimming in the Caribbean. …………………………………………………….

Exercise: Put the words in the right order. 7 My friend Anna/climb up/ Great Wall (+) My friend Anna was climbing up the Great Wall …………………………………………………………. 8 We/ hike/ a forest(?) We were hiking to a forest. ……………………………………….

Exercise: Put the words in the right order. 9 I/ ride/ horse/ Canada (-) I was riding a horse in Canada. ……………………………………………. 10 My friend Bruce/ scuba dive/ the Caymon Islands (+) My friend Bruce was scuba diving in the Caymon Islands. ………………………………………………………………

MORE EXERCISES 1 sleep / He / I / enter / when / the room. Rearrange the words and form sentences using the past continuous tense. Use the correct form of the words. 1 sleep / He / I / enter / when / the room. He was sleeping when I entered the room. ………………………………………………………………

3 When / play / the children / outside / The bell / ring. 2 stop / my car / when / the police / I drive home / yesterday. When the police stopped my car, I was driving home yesterday. …………………………………………………………….………………............ 3 When / play / the children / outside / The bell / ring. The children were playing outside when the bell rang. …………………………………………………………………………

4 The meat / while / she / burn / talk / on the phone. While she was talking on the phone, the meat burnt. ……………………………………………………………………. 5 break / his tooth / while / he play / He / football. He broke his tooth while he was playing football. …………………………………………………………………………

While she was lighting the cooker the electricity ………… ( go) out. went We were lying by the pool when it …………….. (start) to become cloudy. started was looking for I found the old photograph while I …………….. ( look for ) my passport.

Choose the correct words from the box & fill in the blanks. was watching rang _____ _________ were talking walked _________ ___________ was driving stopped ___________ started was waiting ____________ _______ arrested were running _______ ____ ______