Past Progressive Tense

SPELLING TIP
 ADD ING TO MOST VERBS.
EXAMPLE: PLAY > PLAYING , CRY > CRYING , BARK > BARKING

FOR VERBS THAT END IN E, REMOVE THE E AND ADD ING.

EXAMPLE: SLIDE > SLIDING , RIDE > RIDING

FOR VERBS THAT END IN IE, CHANGE THE IE TO Y AND ADD ING.
EXAMPLE: DIE > DYING , TIE > TYING

FOR A VERB WHOSE LAST SYLLABLE IS WRITTEN WITH A CONSONANT-VOWEL-CONSONANT AND IS STRESSED,
DOUBLE THE LAST LETTER BEFORE ADDING ING.
EXAMPLE: BEG > BEGGING , BEGIN > BEGGING

HOWEVER: ENTER > ENTERING (LAST SYLLABLE IS NOT STRESSED)

 If we are talking about the past tense, and if this event has been going on for a while, we usually
have to use Past Continuous Tense. When we talk about the past, we mean that things happen all of
a sudden. Sometimes we think that duration of these events is important and therefore we make
sentences in this way.

Definition of Past Progressive Tense

- According to Cambridge Dictionary ‘‘is an action that someone or something was doing or an
event that was happening at a particular time.

-Example: While he was having breakfast the phone rang.

Features
1. The Past Progressive focuses on the duration of past
activities.
Ex: I didn’t see you at the party last night.
No, I was watching the football at home.
2. To express an incomplete activity.
Ex: I was reding the book during the flight.
3. The Past Progressive use to talk about “Interrupted action’’
Ex: When I was reading my mother called me to eat lunch.
4. We can use past progressive for the background of a story.
Ex: The birds were singing, the sun was shining and in the cafe
people were laughing and chatting.
5. For description
Ex: Jan looked beautiful. She was wearing a green cotton dress. Her eyes were shining in the light of the candles
that were burning nearly.
6. We used it to talk about Temporary habits or habits that happen more often that we expect in the past. We often
use ‘always’ constantly or ‘forever’ here. This is the same as the way we use the past progressive for habits, but the
habits started and finished in the past. This thing doesn’t happen now.
Ex: He was always leaving the tap running.
7. To emphasis that something lasted for a while. This use is often optional and er usually use it with time
expressions like ‘all day’ or ‘all evening’ or ‘for hour’.
Ex: I was working in the garden all day.
8. To describe two actions that were in progress at the same time in the past.
Ex: I was preparing dinner while Melanie was working.
While Melanie was working upstairs, I was preparing dinner.
Noted: The wors order in the sentence can be switch around as in the example above, however
it is important to remember that we use the time expression while before that past progressive
and the word when before that past simple part of the sentence. Use only one of these time
expressions in each sentence.

Positive Sentence

Form: Subject + was/were + v(ing) +…..

Ex: She was sleeping when her mother came to her room.
 Negative Sentence
Form: Subject + was/were + not + v(ing) +…..

Note: In general, use these contractions in the negative: wasn’t, weren’t. Save the long form
for when you want to create emphasis.
Ex: Sam was not lying when he said love her.

Yes/No Questions
Form: was/were + subject + v(ing) + … +?

Ex: When you came home, was she singing?

 Wh- Questions
Form: Wh-word + was/were + subject + v(ing) +….+?

Ex: What was she doing when she went to the market?