FUNCTIONS
OF THE PAST CONTINUOUS
The past
continuous describes actions or events in a time before now, which
began in the past and is still going on at the
time of speaking. In other words, it expresses an unfinished or incomplete
action in the past.
It is used:
§ - Often, to
describe the background in a story written in the past tense, e.g. "The
sun was
shining and the birds were singing as the
elephant came out of the jungle. The other animals were relaxing in the shade
of the trees, but the elephant moved very quickly. She was looking for her baby,
and she didn't notice the hunter who was watching her through
his binoculars. When the shot rang out, she was running towards the
river..."
§ - to describe
an unfinished action that was interrupted by another event or action, e.g.
"I was
having a beautiful dream when the alarm clock rang."
§ - to express a
change of mind: e.g. "I was going to spend the day
at the beach but I've decided to get my homework done instead."
§ - with 'wonder', to make a very polite
request: e.g. "I was wondering if you could
baby-sit for me tonight."
EXAMPLES
§ They were
waiting for the bus when the accident happened.
§ Caroline
was skiing when she broke her leg.
§ When we
arrived he was having a bath.
§ When the
fire started I was watching television.
Note: with
verbs not normally used in the continuous form, the simple past is used.
FORMING THE PAST CONTINUOUS
The past
continuous of any verb is composed of two parts : the past tense of the verb "to be" (was/were),
and the base of the main verb +ing.
Subject
Was/Were
base + ing
They were watching Affirmative |
||
She
was
reading
|
||
Negative
|
||
She
wasn't
reading
|
||
Interrogative
|
||
Was
she
reading?
|
||
Interrogative negative
|
||
Wasn't
she
reading?
|
TO PLAY, PLAY CONTINUOUS
Affirmative
|
Negative
|
Interrogative
|
I was playing
|
I was not playing
|
Was I playing?
|
You were playing
|
You were not playing
|
Were you playing?
|
He was playing
|
He wasn't playing
|
Was he playing?
|
We were playing
|
We weren't playing
|
Were we playing?
|
They were playing
|
They weren't playing
|
Were they playing?
|
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