Past Progressive

Uses
■ Used to describe an activity that began earlier and was
in progress at a particular time in the past or when
another action happened in the past.
– It can also be used to talk about:
■ Two actions that were in progress simultaneously
in the past
■ Unfulfilled intentions
 Form
■ Form: past tense of verb to be (was/were) + present
participle of main verb (base form + ing)

– I was studying when my brother knocked on the door.

– They weren’t dancing when the music stopped.
– Were you driving when the car crashed?
– What were we doing when I found out I was sick?
 Simple Past vs Past Progressive
■ If a sentence contains “when” and has the simple past in
both clauses, the action in the “when-clause” happened first.
– Jenny called her mother when she saw a bug.
– I spilled my coffee when I fell.
 Simple Past vs Past Progressive

■ If a sentence contains “when” and has one simple past

clause and one past progressive clause, both actions
happened at the same time, but the action in the past
progressive clause began earlier.
– I was drinking coffee when I fell.
– Jenny was playing when she saw a bug.
 Simple Past vs Past Progressive

■ Past progressive can be used in both parts of the sentence

to talk about two actions were in progress simultaneously in
the past.
– I was studying while my brother was listening to music.
– He was walking while his son was riding his bike.
 Unfulfilled intentions
■ Unfulfilled intentions are actions someone intended to do, but
did not do.
■ Was/were + going to / planning to / intending to / hoping to +
simple form of main verb
– I was hoping to see you today, but I lost the bus.
– He was going to take a shower, but he ran out of water
– She was planning to see him, but she got stuck at work.
– We were intending to travel, but the pandemic started.

■ Was/were + thinking about + present participle of main verb

– I was thinking about playing video games, but the console is
broken.