Mother

Hit the Nature

road!

Past Past tense

continuous contrast

Presentation Presentation

Complete the Complete the

sentences sentences

Practice Practice
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Past continuous

At 3:00 this afternoon, Ken was riding

his bike while Laura was running.
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Past continuous

• We use the past continuous for actions that were happening at a

particular moment, or period of time in the past.

Maria was doing her homework.

My parents were reading newspapers.

• We can use the past continuous with past time expressions, such
as at four o’clock, yesterday, last night, or this morning.
At eight o’clock, Sara was having her breakfast.
Last night I was chatting to friends online.
I was doing my homework yesterday.
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Past continuous

• We form the past continuous using:

subject + was / were + -ing form of the main verb

Affirmative
I was talking to Ben. We were talking to Ben.
Negative
She wasn’t swimming. They weren’t swimming.
Interrogative Short answers
Were you waiting for the bus? Yes, we were.
Was he studying? No, he wasn’t.

• We don’t use contracted forms of be in the past continuous.

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Past continuous
Complete the sentences. Use the past continuous of
the verbs in brackets, and the correct short answer.

1 ‘_________________________
Were your parents watching (watch) a film last night?’
‘________,
Yes they were. I _______________
was reading (read) a book.’
2 ‘_______________
Were you doing (you / do) your homework yesterday afternoon?’
wasn’t I _______________
‘No, I ________. was sleeping (sleep)!’
3 ‘_______________
Were you playing (you / play) tennis yesterday?’
‘No, we ________.
weren’t We _______________
were playing (play) football.’
Was it raining (it / rain) yesterday?’
4 ‘_______________
‘________,
No it wasn’t. The sun _______________
was shining (shine) all day.’
Were the children wearing (the children / wear) their new
5 ‘_______________________
shoes today?’
‘Yes, they ________,
were but they _______________
weren‘t wearing (not wear)
their new jackets.’
6 ‘_______________
Was she using (she/ use) the computer this morning?’
‘________,
Yes she was, but she _______________
wasn’t surfing (not surf) the Internet.’
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Past continuous

Look at the pictures. Make past continuous sentences.

1 they / not wear / life vests

They weren’t wearing life vests.
2 we / go / the concert
We were going to the concert.
3 he / drive / his car
He was driving his car.
4 she / look both ways
She was looking both ways.
5 I / ride / my bike
I was riding my bike.
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Past tense contrast

• We use the past simple for events that started during a past
continuous activity.
an action in progress an interrupting action
happens over a period of timeoccurs once and stops
• Use while with the past continuous. Use when with the past simple.
• If the clause with when or while comes first, use a comma.

Action in progress: Interrupting action:

Past continuous Past simple
While they were watching TV, their friends arrived.
(They were watching TV. Then their friends arrived.)

She was driving too fast when she had the accident.
(She was driving too fast. Then she had the accident.)
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Past tense contrast

Complete the sentences.

1 It ______
was raining when we got to the beach.
2 He scored ______
while the other player wasn’t looking.
3 I was eating breakfast ______
when you called me.
4 What ______
did you do while they were sleeping?
Were the kids playing when you got home?
5 ______
6 ‘Did you see me when I was dancing?’
didn’t
‘No, I ______.’
7 ‘Was Dan singing when you arrived?’
‘Yes, he ______.’
was
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Next

Past tense contrast

Look at the pictures. Make sentences in 1 It / rain … when / he / get up

the past continuous and the past simple. It was raining when he got up.
2 She / ride her bike … when / a cat
/ run / across the street
She was riding her bike when
a cat ran across the street.
3 While / he / make / dinner,
… he / cut / his finger
While he was making dinner,
he cut his finger.
4 While / they / swim,
… the dogs / take / their clothes
While they were swimming,
the dogs took their clothes.
5 They / watch / a horror film
… when / their mum / call
They were watching a horror
film when their mum called.