“be” figured out, I think the most reasonable step forward is to learn Past Continuous tense before coming back to Past Simple tense. I like to do it this way because I think it allows a good progression of difficulty. Past continuous: why?
The past continuous tense, also known as the
past progressive tense, refers to a continuing action or state that was happening at some point in the past. The past continuous tense is formed by combining the past tense of the verb “be” (i.e., was/were) with the verb’s present participle (-ing word). Past continuous: a timeline Past continuous: how?
Structurally speaking, past continuous is very
similar to present continuous. Here is the formula:
[Subject + past “be” + continuous form +
complement] Affirmative past continuous: some examples ➢ I was drinking coffee at 9am. ➢ He was washing the dishes as I was cooking. ➢ You were sleeping when I called you. ➢ They were watching a movie at 11pm ➢ We were having dinner while my mom was watching the game. Past continuous: spelling General rule: + “ing”
Verb ends in “e”: - “e” + “ing”
Verb ends in “ie”: - “ie” + “ying”
Verb ends in stressed “CVC”: + (last consonant) + “ing”
[Note: this is important for written English. It makes no difference in speech!]
Past continuous: questions and negatives For negatives, add “not” after was/were: ➢ She wasn’t drinking last night. ➢ They weren’t dating last time we met. For questions, the subject trades place with was/were: ➢ Were we going in the right direction? ➢ Was I annoying you with my problems?