Past Continuous Tense

Past Continuous Tense - Formation and Use with exercises and activities

1. Past
Continuou
s

2. Past continuous tense
The farmer was working at
6 o’clock yesterday evening

3. I was
playing
You
We
They
were
He
She
It
was

4. Past continuous tense
was I
playing?
were
you
we
they
was
he
she
it
I
Was not
Wasn’t
playing
You
We
They
were not
weren’t
He
She
It
was not
wasn’t
I n t e r r o g a t i v e N e g a t i v e

5. Uses of the past continuous
We use the past continuous tense to describe
a past action over a period of time
What were they doing yesterday at 8 o’clock?
They were working all day.

6. This time yesterday the hairdresser was working
We use the past continuous to say that somebody
was in the middle of doing something at a certain
time.

7. Past simple and past continuous are used together when
something happened in the middle of something else
The policeman broke his ankle while he
was running after the dog

8. The past simple and the past continuous do not
mean exactly the same. Compare:
When Mary arrived, we were
having dinner.
This means that we already started
dinner before Mary arrived.
When Mary arrived, we had
dinner.
This means that Mary arrived first and
then we had dinner.

9. Time expressions:
While, as, when.
While the band was playing a mobile
phone rang.

10. What were Mike and Louise doing
yesterday?

11. When the teacher
arrived at school…

15. Practice:
Do you have a good memory?
Are you a good witness?
•Directions: Look at the following picture for
one minute. Try to remember as many details
as you can, but don’t write anything.

16. Only one minute…
•Ready, go ….

17. One minute…

18. What do you remember?
1.How many people were there?
2.Where were the people?
3.What was hanging from the ceiling?
4.What was the bank robber holding?
5.What was the bank robber wearing?
6.What color was his hair?
7.What was covering the bank robber’s face?
8.Was the bank robber right-handed or left-handed?
9.What was the bank manager doing?
10.What was the bank teller doing?
11.Who was walking into the bank?
12.What time was it?
13.What was under the bank manager’s desk?