PAST PROGRESSIVE TENSE

• continuing action, something that was happening, going on, at some

point in the past

• Formed with the helping "to be" verb, in the past tense, plus the
present participle of the verb (with an -ing ending)

• Keywords: while, when, during, between and happened.

Rules To Form Verbs In Past
Progressive Tense:
• Add "ing" to most verbs:
• play > playing
• shout > shouting

• For verbs that end "e", remove the "e" and add "ing":
• prepare > preparing
• ride > riding
• For verbs that end "ie", change the "ie" to "y" and add "ing":
• lie > lying
• untie > untying

• For verbs whose last syllable is written [consonant-vowel-

consonant] and is stressed, double the final consonant and
add "ing":
• run > running
• forget > forgetting
Past Progressive Tense Can Be Used:
• To describe an activity in the past which was interrupted
Examples:
• He was writing an e-mail when the phone rang.
• She was reading when someone knocked on the door.
• Carol was doing her assignment when the power went out.
• To describe an action taking place when another occurred

Examples:
• Carlos lost his watch while he was running.
• While they were painting the walls, he painted the door.
• It was raining outside when she woke up.
• To describe an action which was taking place
at the same time as another

Examples:
• They were dancing along when she was singing.
• Helen was cooking when her daughter was
setting up dining table.

• Mr. Lau was teaching Mathematics

while his students were dozing off.