By Juliana Moriones
TOTAL ENGLISH SITE
The past
continuous
To talk about an action going on at a certain time in the past.
To indicate that two actions were happening at the same
To talk about an action that was interrupted.
It is also called past progressive.
It is formed using two main components:
Verb To Be
in past
Main verb
present
participle
Verb
Ing
Was
Were
Affirmative
Subj.
To be
Main
Verb
Comp.
Was
Were
I
HE
SHE
IT
WE
YOU
THEY
studying
at home
We can use the following words with the past continuous:
When, while
When
When we talk about situations or activities which happened when another situation was in progress.
I was working on my project when my son arrived
When my son arrived I was working on my project
These words can be placed at the beginning of the sentence or as a connector in the middle.
To put emphasis on the course of an action in the past
When we talk about situations or activities happening simultaneously.
While he was taking a shower, he was singing a song
My sister was watching tv while I was working on my project
While
Negative
Subj.
To be
negat.
Main
Verb
Comp.
Was not
Were not
I
HE
SHE
IT
WE
YOU
THEY
studying
at home
wasn't
weren't
To make information questions, just add the -wh question at the beginning of the yes/no question.
WHERE WERE THEY DANCING LAST NIGHT ?
To be
SUBJ
Verb PRESENT PART
complem
wh
To make questions in past continuous...
To make Yes/No questions, just invert the position of the subject by position of the aux verb to be in past.
WAS SHE DOING HOMEWORK ?
Yes, she was.
No, she wasn't
To Be
SUBJ
VERB PRESENT PART.
complem
YES / NO
INFORMATION
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