Past Tenses

PAST CONTINUOUS

            was/were   verb -ing

He was studying history at 8 o'clock last night.
He wasn't watching TV when I came.
Was he working on his project?   Yes, he was. / No, he wasn’t.

Remember!

  • When a verb ends in -e, we leave out the -e when we add -ing.
       take + -ing » takeing » taking   

  • When a one-syllable verb ends in a single vowel and a consonant, we double the consonant.
       beg + -ing » begging     win + -ing » winning      put+ -ing » putting

  • When a verb ends in -ie, it turns into -y in front of the ending -ing.
        die + -ing »  dying

When do we use past continuous?

The past continuous is used:

- for an action that was in progress at a specified time in the past
- to describe an activity that was interrupted by another past action

A Let’s practise!

A1 Positive form - What were they doing at 10 o’clock yesterday?

A2 Positive form - What were they doing when you saw them?

A3 Negative form

A4 Questions