The past continuous (progressive) tense

PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE = WAS/WERE + VING
To talk about actions in

LAST NIGHT 08.00

She was dancing at 8.00 last night.

POSITIVE FORM

I

SHE
HE
IT

was

WE
YOU
THEY

were

ing

YESTERDAY AFTERNOON

They were playing table tennis yesterday afternoon.

Jane was cooking at 6 yesterday evening.

YESTERDAY EVENİNG 06.00

(SHE)

NEGATIVE FORM

I

SHE
HE
IT

was not
wasn’t

WE
YOU
THEY

were not
weren’t

ing

X Sue wasn’t playing computer games yesterday evening.
She was doing

YESTERDAY AFTERNOON

X Jim and Tim were’nt playing football yesterday afternoon.

Was

I

SHE
HE
IT

Were

WE
YOU
THEY

ing

?

Was he watching TV last night?
(-) No,he wasn’t.
Was he reading

Were they singing?
(+) Yes,they were.
Were they dancing?
(-) No,they weren’t.

What were they doing at 5 yesterday afternoon?
They were drinking

Where was he going at 8 yesterday morning?
He was going

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SIMLE PAST & PAST CONTINUOUS :

SIMLE PAST TENSE:
To talk

SIMLE PAST =V2

He ate dinner at 7 yesterday evening.

Past Continuous = was/were+Ving

He was eating dinner at 7 yesterday

SIMLE PAST TENSE:
To talk about short actions in the past.
PAST CONTINUOUS

She cut her finger yesterday.

SIMLE PAST =V2

He was cutting a tree yesterday afternoon.

Past Continuous = was/were+Ving

The man was running.

The man fell down.

The mouse saw the cat and it ran.

The mouse was running on the wheel last night.