Past Continuous Tense We use this tense to talk about actions that were going on, or happening at a certain moment in the past. At this time last Saturday, Paul was playing in the park with his friends.

We often use past continuous to say what was in progress, when something happened: The phone rang while I was doing my homework. I was reading a comic book while my sister was watching TV.

Key words 2. Interruption Last night, while I was sleeping, the sound of the broken window woke me up.

Form Affirmative(Declarative) - I, He, She, It + was + v-ing I was studying. He was playing. - You, We, They + were + v-ing You were reading. They were sleeping.

Use Negative form - I, He, She, It + wasn’t(not) + v-ing I wasn’t (not) studying. He wasn’t (not) playing. - You, We, They + weren’t(not) + v-ing You weren’t (not) reading. They weren’t (not) sleeping.

Question form - Was + He, She, It + v-ing. Was he working Question form - Was + He, She, It + v-ing? Was he working? - Were + you, we, they + v-ing? Were they working? Short answers - Yes, he, she, it + was. you, we, they were. - No, he, she, it + wasn’t. you, we, they + weren’t.

Use

Use - It was raining on Monday so we didn’t play football. - Don’t turn the radio off! I was listening to it. We use the simple past to talk about a complete action(long or short). We use past continuous for actions which were not complete at a past time.

Use - Jack got up at 6.00 and worked from 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. - At 8 p.m., when Jack came home, I was reading cartoon book. We often use the past continuous and the past simple together with while. Past continuous: longer action or situation Past simple: complete shorter action that happened during the longer action.

Use - While I was having dinner, the phone rang. - While I was talking to my brother, Bill came in.

were dancing. was cooking dinner. was driving home. was not watching T.V.