Past continuous - form. The past continuous of any verb is composed of two parts : the past tense of the verb to be (was/were), and the base of the main verb +ing.
Subject
|
was/were
|
base-ing
|
They
|
were
|
watching
|
Affirmative
|
||
She
|
was
|
reading
|
Negative
|
||
She
|
wasn't
|
reading
|
Interrogative
|
||
Was
|
she
|
reading?
|
Interrogative negative
|
||
Wasn't
|
she
|
reading?
|
Example: to play, past continuous
Affirmative
|
Negative
|
Interrogative
|
I was playing
|
I was not playing
|
Was I playing?
|
You were playing
|
You were not playing
|
Were you playing?
|
He, she, it was playing
|
She wasn't playing
|
Was she playing?
|
We were playing
|
We weren't playing
|
Were we playing?
|
You were playing
|
You weren't playing
|
Were you playing?
|
They were playing
|
They weren't playing
|
Were they playing?
|
Past continuous, function
The past continuous describes actions or events in a
time before now, which began in the past and was still going on at
the time of speaking. In other words, it expresses an unfinished or
incomplete action in the past.
It is used:
often, to describe the background in a story written in the
past tense, e.g. "The sun was shining and the birds were
singing as the elephant came out of the jungle. The other animals were
relaxing in the shade of the trees, but the elephant moved very quickly.
She was looking for her baby, and she didn't notice the hunter
who was watching her through his binoculars. When the shot rang out,
she was running towards the river..."
to describe an unfinished action that was interrupted by
another event or action: "I was having a beautiful dream when
the alarm clock rang."
to express a change of mind: e.g. "I was going to
spend the day at the beach but I've decided to go on an excursion
instead."
with 'wonder', to make a very polite request: e.g.
"I was wondering if you could baby-sit for me tonight."
More examples
They were waiting for the bus when the accident
happened.
Caroline was skiing when she broke her leg.
When we arrived he was having a bath.
When the fire started I was watching television.
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