Past Continuous Tense

What is Past Continuous Tense?

The past continuous tense in English is used quite often, especially when telling stories. We use the past continuous tense to describe a past action over a period of time.
The past continuous is most often used when two past actions, one interrupting the other and one longer than the other, happened at the same time. In this situation, the simple past tense is used for the shorter action and the past continuous tense is used for the longer action.
For example, He was talking on the phone when I arrived.

How do we make the Past Continuous tense?

The past continuous tense is formed with the past tense of the verb to be (was/were) + present participle. Let us see how to construct sentences of Past continuous tense.
General Structure

• 1. Affirmative (Positive) Sentence

Subject	“To Be”	Verb	Rest of the sentence.
I, He, She, It	was	present participle	Rest of the sentence.
We, You, They	were	present participle	Rest of the sentence.

• 2. Negative Sentence

Subject	“To Be”+Not	Verb	Rest of the sentence.
I, He, She, It	was not	present participle	Rest of the sentence.
We, You, They	were not	present participle	Rest of the sentence.

• 3. Yes/No type Question

“To Be”	Subject	Verb	Rest of the sentence?
Was	I, he, she, it	present participle	Rest of the sentence?
Were	we, you, they	present participle	Rest of the sentence?

• 4.Information Question?

QW	“To Be”	Subject	Verb	Rest of the sentence?
QW	was	I, he, she, it	present participle	Rest of the sentence?
QW	were	we, you, they	present participle	Rest of the sentence?

Important Note:
Verb – Present Participle
Auxiliary Verb – Was, Were
I , He, She, It – Was
We, You, They – Were

1. Affirmative (Positive) Sentences

Subject	“To Be”	Verb (Present Participle)	Rest of the sentence
I	was	working	on my website.
You	were	learning	English at home.
We	were	reading	WhatIsGrammar.com
He	was	speaking	on the phone.
She	was	writing	a novel.
It	was	getting	worse.
They	are	playing	cricket.

2. Negative Sentences

Subject	“To Be”	Verb (Present Participle)	Rest of the sentence
I	was not	working	on my website.
You	were not	learning	English at home.
We	were not	reading	WhatIsGrammar.com
He	was not	speaking	on the phone.
She	was not	writing	a novel.
It	was not	getting	worse.
They	were not	playing	cricket.

3. Yes/No type Question

Auxiliary	Subject	Verb (Present Participle)	Rest of the sentence?
Was	I	working	on my website.?
Were	you	learning	English at home?
Were	we	reading	WhatIsGrammar.com?
Was	he	speaking	on the phone?
Was	She	writing	a novel?
Was	it	getting	worse?
Were	they	playing	cricket?

4. Information Questions

Question	Auxiliary	Subject	Present Participle	Rest of the sentence?
When	was	I	working	on my website?
Where	were	you	learning	English?
What	were	we	reading	?
What	was	he	speaking	on the phone?
What	was	she	writing	?
Why	was	it	getting	worse?
Where	were	they	playing	cricket?

When should we use the Past Continuous Tense?

So, now you can make the past continuous tense. But what about present continuous use? Here are some situations when we need this tense:

Use 1 Interrupted Action in the Past

The past continuous is often used when a continuous action in the past which is interrupted by another action or a time. We usually use when or while to link these two sentences.
Past Continuous + When + Past Simple
I was writing when my friend came home.
I was talking with my brother when you called me.
He was sleeping when I wend his home.
While I was sleeping last night, someone stole my car.
While he was working, the system did not work.

Use 2 Actions which happened at the same time in the past

We also use past continuous tense to talk about two or more activities happening at the same. It expresses the idea that both actions were happening at the same time. The actions are parallel.
Shiva was singing while his daughter was dancing.
When Raj was watching TV, his wife was working in the kitchen.

Use 3 Repeated action in the past

We use the present continuous to say that we are in the process of doing a longer action which is in progress; however, we might not be doing it at this exact second.
Examples:
She was always coming to class late.
He was constantly talking. He annoyed everyone.
I didn’t like them because they were always complaining.