ENGLISH. GAMES: PAST CONTINUOUS.

                   
                                 Click 1, 2, 3, 4,and 5.

ENGLISH. PAST CONTINUOUS.

The past continuous:

The past continuous, also called past progressive, is used to refer to an action that was continuous (i.e. an action that was going on) at a particular time in the past.

Before you continue the lesson, read the following passage and try to see how the verbs in bold are formed and used.

Yesterday, Liza and Jim played tennis. They began at 10:00 and finished at 11:30. So at 11:00, they were playing tennis. They were playing="they were in the middle of playing." They had not finished yet. Was/were playing is the past continuous.

The form of the past continuous:

The past continuous is formed as follows:

to be in the simple past	+ verb	+ ing

The affirmative form:

I, he, she, it	was	playing.
you, we, they	were

Examples:

• Yesterday evening I was watching a film, when someone knocked on the door.
• Jim and Liza were playing tennis yesterday at 11:00.

The interrogative form:

Was	I, he, she, it	Playing?
were	you, we, they

Examples:

• What were you doing yesterday evening?
• And what was your mother doing?
• Where were you going, this morning at 7:30?
• What were Jim and Liza doing?

The negative form:

I, he, she, it	was not / wasn't	playing.
you, we, they	were not / weren't

Examples:

• I wasn't reading a book yesterday evening; I was watching a film.
• My mother wasn't preparing dinner; she was working on the computer.
• We weren't playing cards.

The use of the past continuous:

• We use the past continuous to say that somebody was in the middle of doing something at a certain time in the past.
  Example:
  "This time yesterday, I was doing my homework."
• We use the past continuous to say that something happened in the middle of something else:
  Example:
  "Bob burnt his hand when he was cooking dinner yesterday"
   "While I was working in the garden, I hurt my back."

Remember:

• "Wasn't playing" and "weren't playing" are the short forms of "was not playing" and "were not playing"

ENGLISH. PAST CONTINUOUS GAME.

Past Continuous

FORM [was/were + gerund]

Examples:

You were studying when she called.

Were you studying when she called?

You were not studying when she called.

USE 1 Interrupted Action in the Past

We use the Past Continuous to indicate that a longer action in the past was interrupted.

 Examples:

I was watching TV when she called.

When the phone rang, she was writing a letter.

While we were having the picnic, it started to rain.

What were you doing when the earthquake started?

I was listening to my iPod, so I didn’t hear the fire alarm..

While I was writing the email, the computer suddenly went off.

 USE 2 Parallel Actions

When you use the Past Continuous with two actions in the same sentence, it expresses the idea that both actions were happening at the same time. The actions are parallel.

Examples:

I was studying while he was making dinner.

While Ellen was reading, Tim was watching television.

Were you listening while he was talking?

I wasn’t paying attention while I was writing the letter, so I made several mistakes.

What were you doing while you were waiting?

Thomas was working and I was drawing a picture.

They were eating dinner, discussing their plans, and having a good time.

ENGLISH. PAST CONTINUOUS.