The past continuous tense

Past Continuous образуется при помощи вспомогательного глагола to be в форме прошедшего времени (was, were) и формы причастия настоящего времени смыслового глагола: I was working, we were working.

Утвердительная форма Отрицательная форма Вопросительная

I was working I was not working I wasn’t working Was I working?

You were working You were not working You weren’t working Were you working?

He was working He was not working He wasn’t working Was he working?

She was working She was not working She wasn’t working Was she working?

It was working It was not working It wasn’t working Was it working?

We were working We were not working We weren’t working Were we working?

You were working You were not working You weren’t working Were you working?

They were working They were not working They weren’t working Were they working?

СЛУЧАИ УПОТРЕБЛЕНИЯ:

1. Выражает действие, происходившее в определенный момент в прошлом. Этот момент может быть обозначен:

а) точным указанием времени – at four o’clock, all day (night) long весь день (всю ночь),

from five to six с пяти до шести часов и т.д.

He was writing his exercise at five o’clock. Он писал упражнение в пять часов.

It was raining in the morning. Утром шел дождь.

в) другим прошедшим действием, выраженным глаголом в Past Simple.

It was raining when I left the house. Шел дождь, когда я вышел из дому.

was raining - действие в процессе (шел дождь) – Past Continuous

left - однократное действие (вышел) - Past Simple.

As I was coming here I met your brother. Когда я шел сюда, я встретил

Past Cont. Past Simple вашего брата

.

УПРАЖНЕНИЯ

Упр. 25. Составьте предложения по образцу.

The whole day yesterday I was busy. (write an article) I was writing an article.______

1. We were in the country on the weekend. (fish)

2. At 10 o’clock yesterday I was at home. (clean the flat)

3. Yesterday afternoon we were at the stadium. (play football)

4. On Sunday I was in the library. (prepare for my exam)

5. From 10 till 12 on Sunday Victor was busy. (repair the TV set)

6. At 11 a.m. on Saturday I was at the University. (write a test)

8. All day long yesterday I was out. (work in the garden)

9. At 7 o’clock yesterday evening we were still at the office. (have a meeting)

10. On Friday morning I was at work. (make an experiment)

11. On Sunday afternoon I stayed at home. (repair my car)

12. We were at the discos all night long. (dance)

13. We stayed at home the whole day yesterday. (rain)

14. They were not in Minsk the whole week. (travel)