Ubarak: Bdessalami
Ubarak: Bdessalami
Ubarak: Bdessalami
Nothing is everlasting. Even the continuous tense sentences have a full stop at the end
The Past Continuous Tense
TABLE of CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ------------------------------------------------------------------ 3
USE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3
FORM ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3
Affirmative--------------------------------------------------------------------- 3
Negative------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3
Interrogative-------------------------------------------------------------------- 4
Negative interrogative--------------------------------------------------------- 4
SIMULTANEITY------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5
AMBIGUITY ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6
PRACTICE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8
• KEY------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9
2 M. Abdessalami
The Past Continuous Tense
INTRODUCTION
The past continuous tense is used to describe an event or a condition which was going on
around a particular past time. It is also called the past progressive because it describes actions in
progress at a certain time in the past like
USE
The Past continuous / progressive tense is usually used to indicate the duration of a past event
or to describe an action or more happening simultaneously or successively in the past.
- He was driving all night long.
- He was driving while he was listening to the news on the radio
- He was driving on the highway when the car ran out of gas
FORM
Affirmative:
I was
You were
He
She was verb + ing
It
We
You
They
Example
• Leila was looking for her keys all day yesterday
• The children were helping her find her keys
• I was sleeping
Negative:
I was
You were
He
She was not verb + ing
It
We
You
They
3 M. Abdessalami
The Past Continuous Tense
Example
• I wasn’t watching TV last night
• Leila wasn’t doing anything
• My grandparents weren’t sleeping
• The dog wasn’t playing with the cat
Interrogative:
Was I
Were you
he
Was she verb + ing ?
it
we
Were you
they
Example:
• Were you doing your homework last night?
• Was she expecting them to give her a hand?
• What were you doing yesterday?
• When were the kids making noise?
• How was Leila feeling after the accident?
Negative Interrogative:
Wasn’t I
Weren’t you
he
Wasn’t she verb + ing ?
it
we
Weren’t you
they
Example:
• Weren’t you driving a red car this morning?
• Wasn’t your father painting the fence yesterday?
• Wasn’t Leila selling her jewelry last week?
These yes/no questions are used for confirmation like it is the case for all negative interrogative forms.
The answer with “yes” is the most expected one. The type of formulating the question implies that the
speaker is almost sure that was the case.
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The Past Continuous Tense
SIMULTANEITY
Now, if another action interferes with the main one “writing the report”, here we are talking about
simultaneity.
2. In this way, the past continuous helps describe what was happening when another action happened.
Here, we need to use the time conjunctions “when” or “while” to show that the two actions happened
simultaneously
- While I was writing the report, the lights went out.
- As she was writing the report, I couldn’t see the baby coming in
Or that an action was in progress when another one came to interrupt it.
- I was writing the report when the lights went out.
3. In the third way, this tense is used to indicate that two different actions were happening in parallel at
the same time, and is this case both actions are in the progressive form and only the linking word
“while” is capable of showing this kind of simultaneity:
Affirmative
• with the same subject
- She was writing the report while she was listening to some soft music.
- They were listening to the news as they were having lunch.
- John was having a walk when he met his ex-wife
Negative
- I wasn’t paying attention while the teacher was explaining the lesson.
- The kids weren’t listening as I was warning them.
- Ted wasn’t sleeping when we called him.
Interrogative
a. Yes/now questions
- Were you listening while I was talking?
5 M. Abdessalami
The Past Continuous Tense
AMBIGUITY
I believe that ambiguity doesn’t only create confusion, but it activates the neurons to go past
the surface meaning and dig for the real implication. Some ambiguous cases aren’t hard to decipher
like in the following,
(1) Yesterday, I was watching the last episode of the series while you were sleeping
(2) Yesterday, I was watching the last episode of the series “while you were sleeping”
When you listen to them, the two sentences sound the same thing until they are written and the
quotation marks appear. Sentence (1) says that you were sleeping while I was watching the series, and
this is a normal compound sentence of two clauses stating two simultaneous actions notably
“watching” and “sleeping”. However, in sentence (2), “while you were sleeping” is actually the title of
the series.
In sentence -1-, the book she was reading while I was taking a walk by the lake is entitled “while I was
taking a walk by the lake” in sentence -2-.
OTHER USES
Moreover, this tense allows us the possibility of use in different styles by modifying the syntax
of sentences to avoid redundancy. For example, instead of saying,
- The old men were playing cards. They were telling jokes. They were teasing each other and they
were having fun.
We can simply say,
- The old men were playing cards, telling jokes, teasing each other and having fun.
The same thing can be done when we have to be long to express an idea that can be done the easy way,
- The chef was in the kitchen. He was frying some eggs for dinner.
Talking about adverbs, “always” and “constantly” are two adverbs used to express a habit in the past,
- My friends were always complaining about the weather.
- Nadia was constantly nagging her husband and kids about nothing serious
6 M. Abdessalami
The Past Continuous Tense
- “Nadia used to nag her husband and kids about nothing serious”
They are also used for requesting, asking for permission or inviting politely
- I was wondering if you could lend me some money
- Actually, I was wondering if I could use your phone
- I was wondering if you’d like to come on picnic with us
- We were wondering whether you would care to walk the dog this evening
Using “going to” phrase to indicate that the intension or the plan made in the past didn't happen, or
won't happen in the future like in
- They were going to ask you something (but for some reason they didn’t)
- She was going to marry him (but she didn’t, and most likely she won’t)
- He was going to pay us a visit (but I didn’t and probably he won’t)
This is how an active sentence is turned into the passive voice when the verb is in the past
progressive, but we have to be careful
A. When the subject of the active sentence is singular but the subject of the passive one is plural or
vice-versa,
1. Someone was warning the kids of the danger
- The kids were being warned of the danger.
B. When we use phrasal verbs (separable and non-separable) we should not forget or drop the
preposition
1. Someone was putting the fire out
- The fire was being put out.
C. When the subject is “nobody” or “no one”, in this case the sentence in the passive voice must be in
the negative form
1. No one was talking to her.
- She wasn’t being talked to.
2. Nobody was taking care of those pumps for years
- The pumps weren’t being taken care of for years.
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The Past Continuous Tense
1. Affirmative Sentences
- Susan said, “I was waiting for you”
- Susan said that she had been waiting for us
2. Negative sentences
- John said, “I wasn’t doing anything yesterday”
- John told us that he hadn’t been doing anything the previous day
3. Interrogative sentences
a. “yes/no” questions
- “Were you kidding me?” Nadia asked me
- She wanted to know if/whether I had been kidding her
b. with question words
- He asked us “What were you doing last night?”
- He wanted to know what we had been doing the night before.
PRACTICE
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The Past Continuous Tense
COMPARE
9 M. Abdessalami