1. Past Continuous Verbs

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

3. Simple Past Tense
Actions, events, states that started and finished in the past (…ago, last …, yesterday… )
Yesterday, I went to Walmart.
Ask: Is it finished?
Yes = Simple past

4. Simple Past Examples What did you do yesterday? I went to the store.
Where were you last Sunday morning?
I was at church.
When did you get to school?
I got to school at 7:30.

5. Past Continuous: Three Uses
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
Reo’s Schedule
8 – 9: had breakfast
9 – 10: did his homework
10 – 11: read the newspaper
11 – 12: ate lunch
12 – 2: watched TV
2 – 5: took a nap
At 8:30, Reo was having breakfast.
What was Reo doing at 9:30?

6. Stand and ask – use past continuous verbs: I was _______ing
Where were you last Thursday at 8 p.m.? What were you doing?
I was at home. I was watching TV.
What were you doing Friday at 5 p.m.? Where were you? Who were you with?
I was watching TV at home with my dogs.
What were you doing Sunday morning at 7 a.m.?
I was sleeping
What were you doing last year at this time?
I was teaching in Korea.

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

8. Let’s play charades!

9. Past Continuous, continued
Use 3: Describe and set the scene; tell what was happening or in progress when something else happened or interrupted a past in-progress action
Use when

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

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

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

13. A little practice
1. I (make) ____________________ a deposit at my bank when a man in a mask (pull) ____________________ out a gun and started to rob the bank. 2. I (drive) ____________________ to work when I (see) ____________________ my neighbor’s door open and someone in the house. 3. They (walk) on the sidewalk when a car (hit) ____________________ the person closest to the road.

14. Watch the video and tell me what’s happening.

15. What tense? Alexsandr (sleep) well last night.
Rain (sleep) when the fight started.
When Nattaruja got up this morning, it (rain).
It (rain) hard last night.
Kazu fell when he (play) in the park.
We (have) dinner when Zizu called.
Joris (write) an when Kim called him.
Hokunani (paint) the walls yesterday.
Reo (drive) to Los Angeles in his new car.

16. Review
Simple past = action or state finished in the past (yesterday, last…, … ago, etc.)
Past continuous = was/were + verb+ing, an action that was in progress/not finished when another action happened (interrupted)

17. 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

18. When do you use While?
Use while for two actions in progress at the same time in the past:
She was talking while he was driving.
While he was sleeping, someone stole his car.
(10pm - 6am) (1am-1:10am)
If action 1 started and finished during action 2, use simple past for action 1.

19. When do you use when?
Use when when talking 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)

20. 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.

21. When do we use Past Continuous?
Past actions that were not yet finished at a past time.
2 or more actions happening at the same time. (While)
Tell what was happening when something else happened or interrupted it. (When)