Unit 5 The Past Continuous (Progressive) Tense

Formation

The past continuous tense is formed with the past tense of the auxiliary verb be + the present participle (the infinitive + ing).

Table 4

Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative
I was working	I was not working	was I working?
you were working	you were not working	were you working?
he/she/it was working	he/she/it was not working	was he/she/it working?
we were working	we were not working	were we working?
you were working	you were not working	were you working?
they were working	they were not working	were they working?

Main uses

1 to express an action which was in progress at a given moment in the past.

At eight he was having breakfast.

What were you doing at this time yesterday?

2 to express the activity which was in progress during a period of time in the past.

I was painting all day yesterday.

They were quarrelling the whole time they were together.

Often we don’t know whether the action was completed or not:

She was writing her essay last night.

3 The past continuous is often used to refer to a temporary situation.

He was working at home at the time.

Bill was using my office until I came back from America.

4 Parallel actions. We can emphasize the fact that two or more actions were in progress at the same time by using while or at the time (that):

While I was working in the garden, my wife was cooking dinner.

5 The past progressive and the simple past are often used together in a sentence. The past progressive describes a situation or action in progress in the past, and the simple past describes a shorter action or event. The action or situation in progress is often introduced by conjunctions like when, as, just as, while:

Just as I was leaving the house the phone rang.