1. The Past Continuous Tense

2. Use 1: Past actions that were in progress at a particular time in
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
Erika’s Schedule
8 – 9: had breakfast
9 – 10: finished her homework
10 – 11: exercised
11 – 12: cooked lunch
12 – 2: shopped
2 – 5: talked to a friend on the phone
At 8:30, Erika breakfast.
At 9:15, she her homework.
At 10:15, she
At 11:30, she lunch .
At 1, she
At 3, she to a friend.
Was having
Was exercising
Was shopping
Was finishing
Was cooking
Was talking

3. 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.

4. 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.

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

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

7. 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.

8. Only one minute…
Ready, go ….

9. One minute…

10. 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?
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?

11. 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 ?

12. 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

13. Negative sentences A: Was the man writing at 6p.m. yesterday?
B: No, he wasn’t. The man was not writing .
He was reading a newspaper.
read
A: Were they chatting at 8 yesterday?
B: No, they weren’t. They weren’t chatting .
They were discussing a project.
discuss a project
A: Was the girl singing at 4p.m. yesterday?
B: No, she wasn’t. She was not singing .
She was dancing to the music .
dance

14. What was/were … doing at that time?

16. The worm was eating while the dog was reading .
Two long actions went on at the same time .
We were clapping our hands while the performers were marching across the park .

17. Past Continuous Tense+ when
A: What was he doing when you arrived?
B: He was doing his maths homework
He was doing his maths homework
when I arrived.

18. A: What happened while you were having
supper?
B: My friend came to see me.
My friend came to see me while I was having
supper?
He was doing his maths homework when
I arrived.

19. While Amy was reading yesterday, Suzy____________ on the sofa.
The telephone ___________ while Suzy _____________ on the sofa.
was sleeping
rang
was sleeping
While Eddie was sleeping yesterday,
Daniel ____________the computer game.
Kitty ___________ beside Daniel.
was playing
was standing
was looking
Peter ___________ at some photos
when Millie _______ him a pencil.
gave

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. 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)