Sam continued to talk for

hours…He talked that much

that John was bored….
Sam started talking Sam finished talking
Children rode their bikes
all day long…and they
had a great time…

They started riding They stopped

riding
Talk finished and children went home, but the fact is
that both actions took some time. So we can say that
PAST CONTINUOUS expresses an action that
happened and lasted →→→→→ in the past.
Sam was talking for hours.
Children were riding their bikes all day long.
So I told Let’s go
him... this
way…
 We form this tense with :
WAS/ WERE + -ING on the main verb
1.I was sleeping 1. We were sleeping
2.You were sleeping 2.You were sleeping
3.He/she/it was sleeping 3. They were sleeping

I was sleeping from 2 to 4.

They were having lunch.
Mark was playing football with Harry.
Marry and I were swimming in the lake.
 Change places to make questions:
Was I sleeping?
Were they eating?
Put NOT on was/were to make negative sentences:
I wasn’t sleeping.
They weren’t eating.
 It’s possible that two people were doing something at the same time. For example:

Mum was
cooking.

Jane was
sleeping.

 We can join these sentences using WHILE. For example:

Mum was cooking while Jane was sleeping.
For both actions we use PAST CONTINUOUS because they lasted some time.
 Join sentences:
1) Ellen was reading. Tim was watching television.
2) I was listening to my iPod. James was studying.
3) They were snowboarding. Mum was sitting by the fire.
 And sometimes one action can interrupt ( cut) the other. For example:
The dog was Cat went in.
eating.

We can join these sentences using WHEN. For example:

The dog was eating in the kitchen when the cat went in.
The longer action is in PAST CONTINUOUS and the short one is in PAST
SIMPLE.
 Join sentences:
1) I was having breakfast. The phone rang.
2) They were travelling by plane. The engine broke
down.
3) Tim was riding a horse. Someone stole his car.