MubarakAbdessalami

Nothing is everlasting. Even the continuous tense sentences have a full stop at the end
 The Past Continuous Tense

TABLE of CONTENTS

 INTRODUCTION ------------------------------------------------------------------ 3

 USE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3

 FORM ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3

 Affirmative--------------------------------------------------------------------- 3

 Negative------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3

 Interrogative-------------------------------------------------------------------- 4

 Negative interrogative--------------------------------------------------------- 4

 SIMULTANEITY------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5

• When, while & as--------------------------------------------------------------- 5

 AMBIGUITY ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6

 OTHER USES --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6

 THE PASSIVE VOICE ----------------------------------------------------------------- 7

 THE REPORTED SPEECH ------------------------------------------------------------ 8

 PRACTICE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8

• KEY------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9

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 The Past Continuous Tense

INTRODUCTION

The past continuous tense is used to describe an event or a condition which was going on
around a particular past time. It is also called the past progressive because it describes actions in
progress at a certain time in the past like

- I was watching a movie on TV at 10 o'clock last night.

(The action of watching the movie on TV was ongoing at a specific time in the past)

USE
The Past continuous / progressive tense is usually used to indicate the duration of a past event
or to describe an action or more happening simultaneously or successively in the past.
- He was driving all night long.
- He was driving while he was listening to the news on the radio
- He was driving on the highway when the car ran out of gas

FORM

Affirmative:

I was
You were

He
She was verb + ing
It

We
You
They

Example
• Leila was looking for her keys all day yesterday
• The children were helping her find her keys
• I was sleeping

Negative:

I was
You were

He
She was not verb + ing
It

We
You
They

Contraction or short form:

- wasn’t / weren’t

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 The Past Continuous Tense

Example
• I wasn’t watching TV last night
• Leila wasn’t doing anything
• My grandparents weren’t sleeping
• The dog wasn’t playing with the cat

Interrogative:

Was I
Were you

he
Was she verb + ing ?
it

we
Were you
they

Example:
• Were you doing your homework last night?
• Was she expecting them to give her a hand?
• What were you doing yesterday?
• When were the kids making noise?
• How was Leila feeling after the accident?

Negative Interrogative:

Wasn’t I
Weren’t you

he
Wasn’t she verb + ing ?
it

we
Weren’t you
they

Example:
• Weren’t you driving a red car this morning?
• Wasn’t your father painting the fence yesterday?
• Wasn’t Leila selling her jewelry last week?

These yes/no questions are used for confirmation like it is the case for all negative interrogative forms.
The answer with “yes” is the most expected one. The type of formulating the question implies that the
speaker is almost sure that was the case.

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 The Past Continuous Tense

SIMULTANEITY

The past progressive is used in three basic ways:

1. The normal way when it is used to indicate that something was happening over a period of time:
- I was making dinner last night.

Now, if another action interferes with the main one “writing the report”, here we are talking about
simultaneity.

“When”, “While” & “as”

2. In this way, the past continuous helps describe what was happening when another action happened.
Here, we need to use the time conjunctions “when” or “while” to show that the two actions happened
simultaneously
- While I was writing the report, the lights went out.
- As she was writing the report, I couldn’t see the baby coming in

Or that an action was in progress when another one came to interrupt it.
- I was writing the report when the lights went out.

3. In the third way, this tense is used to indicate that two different actions were happening in parallel at
the same time, and is this case both actions are in the progressive form and only the linking word
“while” is capable of showing this kind of simultaneity:

Affirmative
• with the same subject
- She was writing the report while she was listening to some soft music.
- They were listening to the news as they were having lunch.
- John was having a walk when he met his ex-wife

• with different subjects

- Susan was working on the computer while her roommate was preparing dinner
- Ted was walking in the street as it was raining cats and dogs.
- The boy was playing video games when the lights went off

Negative
- I wasn’t paying attention while the teacher was explaining the lesson.
- The kids weren’t listening as I was warning them.
- Ted wasn’t sleeping when we called him.

Interrogative
a. Yes/now questions
- Were you listening while I was talking?

b. With question words

- What were they doing while they were waiting for us?
- Why were you making noise while your mom was trying to have a nap?

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AMBIGUITY
I believe that ambiguity doesn’t only create confusion, but it activates the neurons to go past
the surface meaning and dig for the real implication. Some ambiguous cases aren’t hard to decipher
like in the following,

(1) Yesterday, I was watching the last episode of the series while you were sleeping
(2) Yesterday, I was watching the last episode of the series “while you were sleeping”

When you listen to them, the two sentences sound the same thing until they are written and the
quotation marks appear. Sentence (1) says that you were sleeping while I was watching the series, and
this is a normal compound sentence of two clauses stating two simultaneous actions notably
“watching” and “sleeping”. However, in sentence (2), “while you were sleeping” is actually the title of
the series.

- Here is another example,

-1-. She was reading while I was taking a walk by the lake
-2-. She was reading “while I was taking a walk by the lake”

In sentence -1-, the book she was reading while I was taking a walk by the lake is entitled “while I was
taking a walk by the lake” in sentence -2-.

OTHER USES
Moreover, this tense allows us the possibility of use in different styles by modifying the syntax
of sentences to avoid redundancy. For example, instead of saying,

- The old men were playing cards. They were telling jokes. They were teasing each other and they
were having fun.
We can simply say,
- The old men were playing cards, telling jokes, teasing each other and having fun.

The same thing can be done when we have to be long to express an idea that can be done the easy way,
- The chef was in the kitchen. He was frying some eggs for dinner.

We can simply combine the two sentences to eventually have this,

- The chef was in the kitchen frying some eggs for dinner
Like in negative forms where we can place the “not” between the auxiliary “was / were” and the verb,
we can also do the same for most adverbs
- The chef was busily trying to fry an egg.
- He was always doing this for years
- I was really studying hard
- They were seriously making an effort to succeed
- I was just helping him move the car from the driveway.

Talking about adverbs, “always” and “constantly” are two adverbs used to express a habit in the past,
- My friends were always complaining about the weather.
- Nadia was constantly nagging her husband and kids about nothing serious

They play the role of “used to” as in

- “My friends used to complain about the weather” and

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- “Nadia used to nag her husband and kids about nothing serious”

They are also used for requesting, asking for permission or inviting politely
- I was wondering if you could lend me some money
- Actually, I was wondering if I could use your phone
- I was wondering if you’d like to come on picnic with us
- We were wondering whether you would care to walk the dog this evening

Using “going to” phrase to indicate that the intension or the plan made in the past didn't happen, or
won't happen in the future like in
- They were going to ask you something (but for some reason they didn’t)
- She was going to marry him (but she didn’t, and most likely she won’t)
- He was going to pay us a visit (but I didn’t and probably he won’t)

THE PASSIVE VOICE

Active sentence - Someone was painting the door
Passive sentence - The door was being painted.

Active sentence - The gardener was watering the plants

Passive sentence - The plants were being watered (by the gardener).

Active sentence - They were asking me strange questions

Passive sentence - I was being asked strange questions

This is how an active sentence is turned into the passive voice when the verb is in the past
progressive, but we have to be careful

A. When the subject of the active sentence is singular but the subject of the passive one is plural or
vice-versa,
1. Someone was warning the kids of the danger
- The kids were being warned of the danger.

2. They were asking him to be quiet

- He was being asked to be quiet.

2. Someone was stealing my clothes during my absence from the house

- My clothes were being stolen during my absence from the house

B. When we use phrasal verbs (separable and non-separable) we should not forget or drop the
preposition
1. Someone was putting the fire out
- The fire was being put out.

2. They were looking for the missing dog

- The missing dog was being looked for.

C. When the subject is “nobody” or “no one”, in this case the sentence in the passive voice must be in
the negative form
1. No one was talking to her.
- She wasn’t being talked to.
2. Nobody was taking care of those pumps for years
- The pumps weren’t being taken care of for years.

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THE REPORTED SPEECH

Reporting sentences in the past progressive tense requires using “the past perfect progressive”
exclusively.

1. Affirmative Sentences
- Susan said, “I was waiting for you”
- Susan said that she had been waiting for us

2. Negative sentences
- John said, “I wasn’t doing anything yesterday”
- John told us that he hadn’t been doing anything the previous day

3. Interrogative sentences
a. “yes/no” questions
- “Were you kidding me?” Nadia asked me
- She wanted to know if/whether I had been kidding her
b. with question words
- He asked us “What were you doing last night?”
- He wanted to know what we had been doing the night before.

4. With “going to”

Leila said, “We were going to buy this old car”
Leila told me that they had been going to buy that old car.

PRACTICE

A. PUT THE VERBS BETWEEN BRACKETS IN THE PAST PROGRESSIVE TENSE:

1. We [work] _______________________________________ hard all day yesterday.

2. I [try) ______________________________________ to contact him when he came in.
3. The sun [shine] __________________________ when the kids left for school.
4. My son [hide] _____________________________ in the wardrobe as I was looking for him.
5. He walked in as she [still/sweep] __________________________ the floor.
6. When I woke up this morning, it [snow] ___________________________ heavily.
7. As I [prepare] ______________________ a pizza for dinner, my kids were helping me.
8. The boy jumped off the tram while it (still/move] _______________________.
9. It [snow] _______________________________________________ at six o’clock this morning.
10. She cut her finger while she [slice] _______________________ a loaf of bread.

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COMPARE

A. PUT THE VERBS BETWEEN BRACKETS IN THE PAST PROGRESSIVE TENSE:

1. We [work] ______were working____ hard all day yesterday.

2. I [try) ____was trying_____ to contact him when he came in.
3. The sun [shine] ____was shining____ when the kids left for school.
4. My son [hide] ___was hiding____ in the wardrobe as I was looking for him.
5. He walked in as she [still/sweep] __was still sweeping__ the floor.
6. When I woke up this morning, it [snow] ___snowing__ heavily.
7. As I [prepare] __was preparing___ a pizza for dinner, my kids were helping me.
8. The boy jumped off the tram while it (still/move] _was still moving__.
9. It [snow] ___was snowing_____ at six o’clock this morning.
10. She cut her finger while she [slice] __was slicing__ a loaf of bread.

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