PAST CONTINUOUS (PAST

PROGRESSIVE)
• Action still in progress in the past.
 BACKGROUND EVENT.
• We often use the Past Continuous to describe the background of a story.
For example, we can talk about the weather or what people were doing
before the story (event, action) started.
EXAMPLE:
• It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the birds were singing.
Children were laughing and playing in the street. Suddenly a heavy grey
cloud appeared in the sky.
 PAST SIMPLE
• To talk about completed or repeated actions.
• When we use two simple past actions, the second action
happened after the first action.
• For example:
• She quickly ran into the cemetery and hid there.
• So she ran into the cemetery first, then she hid inside the
cemetery.
PAST CONTINUOUS + PAST SIMPLE.
• Past continuous = longer action
• Past simple = shorter action
• The shorter action happened while the longer action was still in progress. But
sometimes these two actions happen at the same time.
Example:
I WAS DRIVING TO THE AIRPORT, BUT I GOT A FLAT TIRE.
I was driving to the airport, - longer action.
But I go a flat tire. – shorter action.
 Specific Uses
Interruption:
• Sometimes a shorter action interrupted a longer action.
Example:
While I was shopping one day, a celebrity walked into the store.
While I was shopping one day. – longer action.
A celebrity walked into the store. – shorter action.
In this case, the celebrity who entered the store interrupted my
purchases.
 PAST CONTINUOUS + PAST
CONTINUOUS
• Multiple Progressive Actions in the Same Sentence
Multiple actions happening at the same time.
EXAMPLE
My sister was texting while she was driving.
We don’t know which action started first. We also don’t know which action
finished first. We only know that during a certain period in the past these two
actions were happening at the same time. We can use more than two past
progressive actions in the same sentence, and all these actions were happening at
the same time some time in the past.
 Structure PAST CONTINUOUS
Sujeto +was/were +verb + ing
They were watching
Afirmativa
She was reading
Negativa
She wasn't reading
Interrogativa
Was she reading?
Interrogativa negativa
Wasn't she reading?
 Structure PAST SIMPLE
• Affirmative form.

• Negative form.

• Questions.
 Conjunctions
• We use conjunctions to join past simple and progressive actions. – Example
conjunctions: while, when, as.
• Examples:
• I was living in New York when I met Kathy.
• She was eating lunch when the phone rang.
• I was sleeping when she arrived.
• Rebecca cut her finger while she was making dinner.
• I lost my passport while I was travelling in Japan.