Past continuous tense

 

2. Formula

➣ The structure of the past continuous tense is the same asthe present continuous tense, in which verb to be is changed to the past form as was/were.

 

➨ In which was/were will be conjugated according to the subject:

• I/He/She/It + was
• You/We/They + were

For example:

• I was going out when it started to rain.
• I was planting flowers in the garden at 5 p.m yesterday.
• He was not watching that film before Marie finished her work.
• They were not working when the boss came yesterday.
• What was he talking about?
• Was LiLy riding her bike when Jane saw her yesterday?

3. How to use

 

 

➨ There are 4 main uses of the past continuous tense as follows:

1. Emphasize the development or process of a thing or event or the time it takes place

• At 10 a.m yesterday, she was watching TV. (At 10 a.m., she was watching TV)

• She was cooking at 7 p.m yesterday. (She was cooking at 7pm last night.)

• We were having final test at this time three weeks ago. (We were taking the final exam at this time 3 weeks ago.)

2. Describe an action that was happening at a time in the past

• While he was taking a bath, she was using the computer.
• She was singing while I was playing games. (She was singing while I was playing the game.)

• She was writing a letter while we were watching TV. (She was writing a letter while we were watching a movie.) 

3. Describe an action that is happening when another action intervenes

• Hewas walking in the street when he suddenly fell over. (While he was walking on the road, he suddenly tripped and fell.)

• We met Minh when we were going shopping yesterday. (We ran into Minh while shopping yesterday.)
• The light went out when I was washing my clothes.(The electricity went out while I was washing clothes.)

4. Repeated actions in the past that also bothered others

• My dad was always complaining about my room when he got there.(My dad always complains about my room when he's there.)
• He was always making mistakes even in easy assignments. (He always makes mistakes even in simple tasks.)
• He was always forgetting his girlfriend's birthday. (He always forgets his girlfriend's birthday.)

4. Identification signs

➨ The past continuous tense can be very confusing and difficult to use correctly. Here are some signs to recognize the past continuous tense as follows:

1. In a sentence containing adverbs indicating time and a specific time in the past:

– At + exact hour + time in the past

• I was studying English at 10 pm last night (I was studying English at 10 pm last night)
• We were watching TV at 12 o'clock last night. (We were watching TV at 12 o'clock last night.)

– In + specified year

• In 2015, he was living in England (In 2015, he was living in England)
• In 2019, I was working at K.M company (In 2019, I was working at K.M company)

2. The past continuous tense has a possessive sentence with "when" when describing an action that was happening when another action intervened.

• When she was doing homework in her room, her phone rang.
• When I was studying in my room, my friend came. (While I was studying in my room, my friend came.)
• We were sitting in the Cafe when John saw us. (We were sitting at a cafe when John caught us.)

3. Sentences with the appearance of some special words/phrases: while, at that time

• She was drawing while he was playing games (She was drawing while he was playing video games.)
• My brother was watching TV at that time (At that time my brother was watching TV.)
• I was studying while my mother was cooking in the kitchen. (I was studying while my mother cooked in the kitchen.)

In fact, some signs of past continuous tense are only relative. In some cases, even though some signs appear, it is acceptable not to use them with the past continuous.

5. Distinguish between simple past tense and past continuous tense

These are the two tenses that are most likely to cause confusion in terms of usage and meaningin 12 basic English tenses. It will cause difficulties for learners if we only learn knowledge in single tenses without comparison or distinction.:

1. Structure of simple past tense and past continuous tense

 

 

2. How to use the past simple and past continuous tense

➨ Both the past simple and past continuous are used to refer to things and events that happened and ended in the past.

➨ When we use both of these tenses in the same sentence, we use the past continuous to refer to the longer, background action or event; Use the past simple to indicate an action or event that happened and ended in a shorter period of time (clause after when).