1. Past Tense and Past Continuous Verbs
Kristi Reyes
Level 6 ESL

2. Simple Past Tense
Actions, events, states that started and finished in the past (…ago, last …, yesterday… )
Regular verbs: -ed
Irregular verbs: change spelling, memorize

3. Tell your partner – use past tense verbs!
What did you do yesterday?
What did you do last Saturday night?
Where were you last Sunday morning?
What did you do to celebrate your last birthday?
When did you move to the U.S.?
When did you learn to drive?
Why did you start taking classes at MiraCosta College?
How did you learn to speak English so well?

4. 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
Pablo’s Schedule
8 – 9: had breakfast
9 – 10: finished his homework
10 – 11: read the newspaper
11 – 12: ate lunch
12 – 2: watched soccer match on TV
2 – 5: took a nap

5. Tell a classmate – use past continuous verbs: I was _______ing
Where were you last Thursday at 8 p.m.? What were you doing?
What were you doing Friday at 5 p.m.? Where were you? Who were you with?
What were you doing Sunday morning at 7 a.m.?
What were you doing last night at this time?
What were you doing last week at this time?
What were you doing last year at this time?

6. Past Continuous, continued
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.

7. 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
Examples:
Car accident
Broken bone
A Crime

8. 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.

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

10. 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:

11. 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.

12. Only one minute…
Ready, go ….

13. One minute…

14. 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?
What was covering the bank robber’s face?
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?

15. 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 ?

16. 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

17. 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.
4. She (talk) ____________________ to a friend at the mall when a man (come) ____________________ up behind her and (grab) ____________________ her purse.
5. I (watch) ____________________ TV when I (hear) shouting and gunshots next door.
6. I (work) ____________________ in the garden and my son (find) ____________________ some matches and (start) ____________________ a fire in the living room.

18. 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)

19. Writing: Which is correct?
I (sleep) well last night.
I (sleep) when the first started.
When I got up this morning, it (rain).
It (rain) hard last night.
Susie fell when she (play) in the park.
We (have) dinner when you called.
I (write) an when you called me.
He (paint) the walls yesterday.
She (drive) to Los Angeles in her new car.

20. 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)

21. 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.

22. Questions? Practice on textbook pages 42 - 43 For more practice:
Forming and Using the Past Continuous
Quiz Yourself