Past continuous tense

1. Definition of Past Continuous Tense

The Past Continuous Tense is a tense in modern English used to emphasize the progression or process of an event or the time during which an event occurs.

2. Formula of Past Continuous Tense

➣ The structure of the past continuous tense is similar to the present continuous tense, where the verb to be is changed to its past form, was/were.

Where was/were is conjugated according to the subject:

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

Examples:

• 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. Usage of Past Continuous Tense

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

1. To emphasize the progression, process, or duration of an event

• At 10 a.m. yesterday, she was watching TV.
• She was cooking at 7 p.m. yesterday.
• We were having the final test at this time three weeks ago.

2. To describe an action happening at a specific moment in the past

• While he was taking a bath, she was using the computer.
• She was singing while I was playing a game.
• She was writing a letter while we were watching TV.

3. To describe an action that was happening when another action interrupted

• He was walking in the street when he suddenly fell over.
• We met Minh when we were going shopping yesterday.
• The light went out when I was washing my clothes.

4. To describe repeated actions in the past that annoyed others

• My dad was always complaining about my room when he got there.
• He was always making mistakes even in easy assignments.
• He was always forgetting his girlfriend’s birthday.

4. Signs to Recognize Past Continuous Tense

The past continuous tense can be easily confused and challenging to use correctlymonton. Below are some signs to identify the past continuous tense:

1. Sentences containing adverbs of time at a specific moment in the past:

– At + specific time + past time

• I was studying English at 10 p.m. last night.
• We were watching TV at 12 o’clock last night.

– In + specific year

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

2. Sentences with “when” describing an action interrupted by another

• When she was doing homework in her room, her phone rang.
• When I was studying in my room, my friend came.
• We were sitting in the cafe when John saw us.

3. Sentences with specific words/phrases: while, at that time

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

In practice, some signs of the past continuous tense are relative. In some cases, certain signs may appear but are not used with the past continuous tense, which is acceptable.

5. Differentiating Past Simple and Past Continuous Tense

These are the two tenses most likely to cause confusion in terms of usage and meaning among the 12 basic English tenses. It can be challenging for learners if we study the tenses individually without comparison or differentiation:

1. Structure of Past Simple and Past Continuous Tense

2. Usage of Past Simple and Past Continuous Tense

• Both the past simple and past continuous tenses are used to describe events or things that happened and ended in the past.
• When both tenses are used in the same sentence, the past continuous is used for the background or longer action, while the past simple is used for the shorter, completed action (the clause following “when”).