The Past Continuous Tense

1. The Past Continuous Tense

2. Erika’s Schedule 8 – 9: had breakfast 9 – 10: finished her homework 10 – 11: exercised 11 – 12: cooked lunch 12 – 2: shopped 2 – 5: talked to a friend on the phone • Use 1:Past actions that were in progress at a particular time in the past; actions that were not yet finished at a past time At 8:30, Erika breakfast. At 9:15, she her homework. At 10:15, she . At 11:30, she lunch . At 1, she . At 3, she to a friend. Was having Was exercising Was shopping Was finishing Was cooking Was talking

3. Use 2: Two (or more) actions that were in progress in the past at the same time Use while • Examples: Sorry, I wasn’t listening to you while you were talking. While I was reading, he was writing.

4. Form: Using past and past continuous together • Use past continuous to say what was in progress I was crossing the street … • Use simple past for the interrupting action when the driver ran the red light.

5. Other examples: I was sleeping when the telephone rang and wokeme up. He was driving too fast when he crashed the car.

6. More Examples: We were watching the news when the announcer made a special live report. I was trying to study when you called.

7. Form of Past Continuous Subject + was / were + verb+ing Negation: Subject + was / were + not + verb+ing Yes/ No Question: Was / Were + subject + + verb+ing ? Information Question: (WH) + Was / Were + subject + + verb+ing ?

8. Remember –ing spelling rules?

9. Negative sentences A: Was the man writing at 6p.m. yesterday? B: No, he wasn’t. The man was not writing . He was reading a newspaper. read A: Were they chatting at 8 yesterday? B: No, they weren’t. They weren’t chatting . They were discussing a project. discuss a project A: Was the girl singing at 4p.m. yesterday? B: No, she wasn’t. She was not singing . She was dancing to the music . dance

10. What was/were … doing at that time?

12. The worm was eatingwhile the dog was reading . Two long actions went on at the same time . We were clapping our hands while the performers were marching across the park .

13. Past Continuous Tense+ when A: What was he doingwhen you arrived? B: He was doing his maths homework He was doing his maths homework when I arrived.

14. A: What happened while you were having supper? B: My friend came to see me. My friend came to see me while I was having supper? He was doing his maths homework when I arrived.

15. While Amy was reading yesterday, Suzy____________ on the sofa. The telephone ___________ while Suzy _____________ on the sofa. was sleeping rang was sleeping While Eddie was sleeping yesterday, Daniel ____________the computer game. Kitty ___________ beside Daniel. was playing was standing was looking Peter ___________ at some photos when Millie _______ him a pencil. gave

16. Punctuation with When and While • When and while at the front of a sentence, use a comma: When you called, I was watching TV. While he was washing the clothes,I was doing the dishes. • When and while in the middle of a sentence, no comma I was watching TV when you called. I was doing the dishes while he was washing the clothes.

17. Final Tips … • Use while for two actions in progress at the same time in the past: She was talking while he was driving. • Use when when telling about sequence of events (one action that was in progress that was interrupted by another event in the past): I was just leaving when you called. (first action in progress) (interrupting event)

18. شكرا عمل الطالب: عمر عبدالعزيز الرواشده ( ج 8)