Using Past Continuous Tense
The past continuous tense looks like this: was/were + verb-ing
The past continuous tense can be used in several ways.
The past continuous tense can be used to indicate actions that happened in the past and those actions were still going during the specified past time, such as last night/a while ago/just now, etc. Read these questions and answers.
What was Tom doing last night? Tom/He was watching television.
What were the children doing a while ago?
The children/They were playing chess.
What was Mrs Lee doing just now?
Mrs Lee/She was talking on the phone.
The past continuous tense can also be used to indicate an action that was going on when a different action happened at the same time. This different action is indicated by the simple past tense. Words like "when" or "as" may be used as connectors. Example:
This was what happened yesterday. I was walking on the footpath. Suddenly I saw a wallet on the footpath. Now I'm telling you about what happened. I can use the past continuous tense and the simple past tense in my sentence like this: I was walking on the footpath when I saw a wallet. OR As I was walking on the footpath, I saw a wallet. More examples:
Sandy was watching television when the doorbell rang.
Tommy was reading in the study when he heard a loud bang.
The old beggar noticed a gold necklace on the ground as he was picking up the trash.
The past continuous tense can also be used in past tense compositions/stories. Read this short passage that shows the usage of the past continuous tense. The words in bold show the past continuous tense. The words in italics show the simple past tense that indicates the different actions.
It was rather late that night. I was walking home from the night market. Suddenly it started to rain heavily. The rain was splashing on me and in no time, I was drenched from head to foot! I decided to run home. Alas! It was my bad luck. As I was running, I accidentally kicked against something hard, lost my balance and fell. However, I managed to heave myself up from the ground. I saw a bus-stop and took shelter there. While I was waiting for the rain to slacken, I witnessed a very scary incident.............
The past continuous tense can also be used with the present continuous tense in the same sentence. Read these examples and pay attention to the insertion of the comma (,) and the words "but now".
The boys were swimming in the pool a while ago, but now they are eating biscuits and cakes.
Doris was talking on the phone ten minutes ago, but now she is cooking in the kitchen.
The past continuous tense can be used to indicate two different past continuous actions that were going on at the same time. The word "while" is used as the connector. Pay attention to the insertion of the comma (,) as you read these examples.
While Mrs Lee was talking to the neighbour, her husband was washing the car.
While Hilda and her brother were sweeping the floor, their friends were emptying the rubbish bins.
To view other tenses, click on "References".
The past continuous tense can be used in several ways.
The past continuous tense can be used to indicate actions that happened in the past and those actions were still going during the specified past time, such as last night/a while ago/just now, etc. Read these questions and answers.
What was Tom doing last night? Tom/He was watching television.
What were the children doing a while ago?
The children/They were playing chess.
What was Mrs Lee doing just now?
Mrs Lee/She was talking on the phone.
The past continuous tense can also be used to indicate an action that was going on when a different action happened at the same time. This different action is indicated by the simple past tense. Words like "when" or "as" may be used as connectors. Example:
This was what happened yesterday. I was walking on the footpath. Suddenly I saw a wallet on the footpath. Now I'm telling you about what happened. I can use the past continuous tense and the simple past tense in my sentence like this: I was walking on the footpath when I saw a wallet. OR As I was walking on the footpath, I saw a wallet. More examples:
Sandy was watching television when the doorbell rang.
Tommy was reading in the study when he heard a loud bang.
The old beggar noticed a gold necklace on the ground as he was picking up the trash.
The past continuous tense can also be used in past tense compositions/stories. Read this short passage that shows the usage of the past continuous tense. The words in bold show the past continuous tense. The words in italics show the simple past tense that indicates the different actions.
It was rather late that night. I was walking home from the night market. Suddenly it started to rain heavily. The rain was splashing on me and in no time, I was drenched from head to foot! I decided to run home. Alas! It was my bad luck. As I was running, I accidentally kicked against something hard, lost my balance and fell. However, I managed to heave myself up from the ground. I saw a bus-stop and took shelter there. While I was waiting for the rain to slacken, I witnessed a very scary incident.............
The past continuous tense can also be used with the present continuous tense in the same sentence. Read these examples and pay attention to the insertion of the comma (,) and the words "but now".
The boys were swimming in the pool a while ago, but now they are eating biscuits and cakes.
Doris was talking on the phone ten minutes ago, but now she is cooking in the kitchen.
The past continuous tense can be used to indicate two different past continuous actions that were going on at the same time. The word "while" is used as the connector. Pay attention to the insertion of the comma (,) as you read these examples.
While Mrs Lee was talking to the neighbour, her husband was washing the car.
While Hilda and her brother were sweeping the floor, their friends were emptying the rubbish bins.
To view other tenses, click on "References".
By Susan L
On 12/05/2009 04:57:00 PM
1 Comment(s)
View More Articles... On 12/05/2009 04:57:00 PM
1 Comment(s)
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Wednesday, February 17, 2010 11:39:00 PM
What a great resource! ~ by Anonymous