Learn English Grammar and Vocabulary
The past continuous tense
The past continuous tense is made with was / were + -ing.
Affirmative:
- I was working.
- They were working.
Negative
- I was not working.
- They were not working.
Question
- Was I working?
- Were they working?
Uses
The past continuous tense is used to talk about an action that was going on at some time in the past. The time of the action may or may not be mentioned.
- I was working then.
- We were listening to music.
- I was getting worried.
- When I saw him he was crying.
- What were you doing at eight o’clock yesterday evening?
The past continuous tense is often used together with a simple past tense. The past continuous refers to the longer background action or situation. The simple past refers to a shorter action or event that happened in the middle of the longer action.
- As I was walking down the street, I saw James.
- I was reading when the lights went out.
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