Past Continuous

PAST TENSE
PAST CONTINUOUS
PAST CONTINUOUS
Form
Use
Past Simple or Past Continuous
FORM
(Positive)
I was cooking breakfast at 6 o’clock yesterday morning.
She was listening to music .
They were doing their homework .
FORM
(Positive)
They were doing their homework.
I was cooking breakfast.
FORM
(Negative)
I wasn’t cooking breakfast at 6 o’clock yesterday morning.
She wasn’t listening to music .
They weren’t doing their homework
FORM
(Negative)
I wasn’t cooking breakfast.
They weren’t doing their homework.
FORM
(Question)
What were you cooking at 6 o’clock yesterday morning?
What was she listening to ?
What were they doing ?
What were you cooking ?
What was she listening to ?
FORM
(Question)
FORM
(Short Question)
Were you cooking at 6 o’clock yesterday morning?
Was she listening to music ?
Were they doing their homework?
Were you cooking breakfast?
Was she listening to music?
FORM
(Short Question)
FORM
(Short Question)
Yes, S + was/were
No, S + wasn’t/weren’t
USE
We often use Past Continuous in sentences with the Past Simple.
The Past Continuous refers to longer, background activities, while the Past Simple refers to shorter, completed actions.
USE
to express activities in progress before, and probably after, a particular time in the past:
At 7 o’clock this morning I was having my breakfast.
I walked past your house last night. There was an awful lot of noise. What were you doing?
USE
2. for description
Jane looked beautiful. She was wearing a green cotton dress. Her eyes were shining in the light of candles that were burning nearby.
USE
3. to express an interrupted past activity.
When the phone rang, I was having a shower.
While we were playing tennis, it started to rain.
4. To express an incomplete activity in the past in order to contrast with the Past Simple that expressed a completed activity
I was reading a book during the flight. (I didn’t finish it)
I first met Harry while I was going out with Jack.
USE
The Past Simple is usually used to express a repeated past habit or situation. But the Past Continuous can be used if the repeated habit becomes a longer setting for something.
Compare:
I went out with Jack for ten years.
I first met Harry while I was going out with Jack.
PAST CONTINUOUS
PAST SIMPLE

OR
Compare:

1) A: I didn’t see you at the party last night.
B: No, I stayed at home and watched football.

2) A: I didn’t see you at the party last night.
B: No, I was watching football at home.
The Past Simple focuses on past actions as simple facts.
The Past Continuous focuses on the duration of past situations and activities.
When the war broke out, Peter was studying
medicine at medical school. He decided that
it was safer to go home to his parents and
postpone his studies.

What was Peter doing when the war broke out?
=> He was studying.
What did Peter do when the war broke out?
=> He went home to his parents.

Questions in the Past Simple and the Past Continuous refer to different time periods:
the Past Continuous asks about activities before.
the Past Simple asks about what happened after.