The past continuous

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The past continuous
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When do we use the past continuous?
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We use the past continuous to talk about an
action that continued for a period of time in the
past.
What were you doing in Central last night?
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We often use the past continuous to show that the
action began before a particular time in the past
and continued after it.
Tom was writing an email at ten thirty this
morning.
action ended (Tom stopped writing an email.)
action began (Tom started writing an email.)
ten thirty this morning
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We also use the past continuous to talk about
what was happening when another action took
place. We use the past continuous for the longer
action and the simple past for the shorter action.
Sally took a photo of her friends while they were
playing computer games.
Note
We often use the connectives when and while with
the past continuous.
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We form the past continuous with the simple past
form of the verb to be the present participle
of the main verb, like this.
Positive and negative statements
was was not / wasnt
I He / She / It
downloading a file.
were were not / werent
You We They
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I he / she / it
Was
downloading a file?
you we they
Were
I he / she / it
I he / she / it
was not / wasnt.
was.
No,
Yes,
you we they
you we they
were.
were not / werent.
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Read the conversation and fill in the blanks with
the correct forms of the verbs in the word box.
Practice
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Jill Hi, Liz. you
a party or something when I
you yesterday? All I could hear
was music! Liz No, Mum and I
in Causeway Bay. The shop we were in
really loud music. Jill
you anything in
particular? Liz Well, I
to buy anything, but I ended up getting a new
mobile phone. Jill Thats great! Liz Yeah, but
Mum annoyed when we

having
Were
called
were shopping
was playing
Were
looking for
wasnt planning
was feeling
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. She wanted to get a new digital camera
but they the model she
wanted. Jill Oh dear! Liz Its OK now though.
I the Internet while
Mum dinner last night,
and I found the right camera online. Jill I bet
your mum was pleased. Liz Yes, she was. She was
also pleased that I something useful on the
computer, rather than just playing games as
usual!
left
werent selling
was surfing
was cooking
was doing
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The end