Surely you are already familiar with the Present Continuous tense, which helps us describe a long-term action (process) occurring at the moment. But what if you need to talk about a process that lasted in the past?
In Russian, various prefixes come to our aid, helping to distinguish verbs that answer the questions “what did you do?” and “what did you do?” In English, in such cases, a tense called Past Continuous Tense comes to our aid.
What is Past Continuous
Past Continuous(also called Past Progressive) is the past continuous tense. In other words, it is a time that indicates a process that lasted at a certain moment or period in the past.
For understanding: For example, if yesterday you ran into the store for five minutes to buy the essentials, then you would simply say: “I went to the store.” If you are involved in a long and tedious shopping process in order to find a gift for your beloved granny, then the wording “I walked around the shopping center for 4 hours, during which time spring gave way to summer, a year next year, I have grown old” will come to your aid , the children grew up, and humanity conquered Mars, but I still haven’t found anything, perhaps I’ll make a postcard with my own hands.”
This example clearly demonstrates the difference between Past Simple and Past Continuous.
How is the Past Continuous formed?
The formation scheme for Past Continuous is simple, logical and similar to the formation of Present Continuous. This subject+ auxiliary verb was/were + semantic verb with the ending "- ing" For clarity, let's take a closer look at how statements, denials and questions are formed in this tense.
Spoiler: the formation of negatives and questions is no different in structure from other English tenses.
Don't forget that in colloquial speech negatives are usually shortened, so was not and were not take the forms weren't and weren't respectively.
Past Continuous marker words
The following marker words will help you determine that the Past Continuous should be used in a given sentence:
- at 7 a.m.- at 7 am (instead of 7 a.m. you can substitute any other time, what is important is the indication of a specific period of time);
- all day/night(long) - all day/all night (all day long);
- all the time- all the time;
- at that moment- at that moment;
- while- while;
- when- When.
| Marker | Example | Translation |
| at 5 o'clock | Yesterday at 5 o’clock I was having a date with my boss’ wife. | Yesterday at 5 o'clock I was on a date with my boss's wife. |
| all night long | I was partying all night long, dudes. It was savage! | I partied the night away, dudes. It was amazing! |
| all the time | Rick was crafting something in his lab all the time, but nobody knew what it was. | Rick was making something in his laboratory all the time, but no one knew what it was. |
| at that moment | I was teaching my pigeon to fly at that moment the day before yesterday. | I taught my pigeon to fly at the same time the day before yesterday. |
| while | Clyde was drinking whiskey at the bar, while Bonnie was stealing a car. | Clyde was drinking whiskey at the bar while Bonnie was stealing the car. |
| when | I was trying to sell my little brother in the Internet when my parents came back. | I tried to sell my little brother online when my parents returned. |
Cases of using the Past Continuous
So, actually, what was all this started for: in what cases exactly do we use the Past Continuous?
- The simplest and most common is to describe actions, which lasted at a certain period or a specific point in time in the past.
Last night at 6 p.m., I was eating dinner. - Yesterday at 6 pm I had dinner.
At midnight,we were still driving through the desert. - At midnight we were still driving through the desert.
Yesterday at this time, I was sitting at my desk at work. - Yesterday, at this same time, I was sitting at my desk.
She was walking her dog in the afternoon. - She was walking the dog during the day.
It is important to remember that if a period is indicated, it must be complete. Those. if we say that she walked the dog during the day, then this means that the day has already ended.
- One of the most typical cases of use is interrupted action in the past. This is where the union comes to our aid." when».
I was watching TV when she called. - I was watching TV when she called.
When the phone rank,she was writing a letter. - When the phone rang, she was writing a letter.
While we were having the picnic, it started to rain. - While we were on a picnic, it started to rain.
What were you doing when the earthquake started? - What were you doing when the earthquake started?
I was listening to my iPod, so I didn't hear the fire alarm. - I was listening to my iPod, so I didn't hear the fire alarm.
You were not listening to me when I told you to turn the oven off. - You didn't listen to me when I asked you to turn off the oven.
Sammy was waiting for us when we got off the plane. - Sammy was waiting for us when we got off the plane.
A: What were you doing when you broke your leg? - What were you doing when you broke your leg?
B: I was snowboarding. - I went snowboarding.
- Another typical case is long-term actions, which happened simultaneously in the past. In this case, the union helps us " while" and sometimes just " and».
I was studying while he was making dinner. - I studied while he was preparing dinner.
While Ellen was reading Tim was watching television - While Helen was reading, Tim was watching TV.
Were you listening while was he talking? - Did you listen while he spoke?
I wasn't paying attention while I was writing the letter, so I made several mistakes. - I wrote the letter inattentively, so I made several mistakes.
What were you doing while you were waiting? - What did you do while you were waiting?
Thomas wasn't working, and I wasn't working either. - Thomas didn’t work, and I didn’t work either.
They were eating dinner, discussing their plans and having a good time. - They had dinner, discussed plans and just had a good time.
- A slightly rarer and more specific case is the use of the Past Continuous to describe the atmosphere and settings in stories and stories.
When I walked into the office, several people were busy typing, some were talking on the phones, the boss was giving orders, and customers were waiting to be served. One customer was yelling at a secretary and waving his hands. Others were complaining to each other about the bad service. - When I entered the office, several people were busily typing something, someone was talking on the phone, the boss was giving instructions, and customers were waiting to be served. One client shouted at the secretary and waved his arms. Others complained to each other about the poor service.
- And finally - a case for the advanced: we use the Past Continuous to describe repetitive actions or habits, that have annoyed us in the past. Similar to using " used to", but with a negative connotation. Here the words “ always" And " constantly».
She was always coming to class late. - She was always late for classes.
He was constantly talking. It annoyed everyone. - He chatted constantly. This irritated everyone.
I didn't like them because they were always complaining. - I didn’t like them because they constantly complained.
Nota Bene: do not forget that the so-called " state verbs"(state verbs) we are in the times of the Continuous group we don't use.
Education Past Continuous Passive
Like most other tenses, the Past Continuous can be used in passive pledge .
Statement: subject + was/were + being + V3
The customer was being helped by the salesman when the thief came into the store. - The seller was helping the buyer when the thief entered the store.
Negation: subject + was/were + not + being + V3
The TV was not being watched when electricity went off. - No one was watching TV when the electricity was turned off.
Question: was/were + subject + being + V3?
Was he being listened by anyone when Linda arrived? - Was anyone listening to him at all when Linda arrived?
Differences from Past Simple
We hope that having read up to this point, you have already understood how Past Continuous differs from Past Simple, but just in case, let’s clarify.
Past Simple is a short, completed action in the past, while Past Continuous is a process, a long-term action that occurred over some time in the past.
That's basically all you need to know to distinguish between these times. Easy peasy.
He came home at 7 p.m. - He back home at 7 pm.
He was coming home at 7 p.m. - He was returning home at 7 pm.
She said said when I saw her.
She was saying something when I saw her. - She's doing something spoke when I saw her.
Working with the Past Continuous is simple and pleasant (compared to the Present Perfect, for example), and in order to thoroughly understand it and master everything down to the smallest detail, we recommend you exercises on our online simulator.
Conclusion
So, today we have carefully and in detail analyzed the Past Continuous Tense. We hope you found this article helpful and you will handle this time as smartly as any native and be able to tell everyone long stories about your fun time this past weekend.
We invite you to familiarize yourself with other tenses of the English language
Past Progressive (Past Continuous) can be translated as “past continuous tense.” It is one of the most commonly used grammatical tenses in the English language. Once you master it, you will be able to express your thoughts more freely.
Affirmative sentence structure
In the Past Progressive, sentences are constructed as shown in the diagram below.
Explanation for the diagram:
- S - subject;
- was/were - past tense form of the verb to be (was - for singular, were - for plural);
- V ing is a verb ending in -ing.
I was reading a book yesterday morning. - Yesterdayin the morningIreadbook.
Jane was watching TV yesterday at 3 pm. - YesterdayVthreehoursdayJanewatchedTV.
They were singing all evening. - Theysangallevening.
Negative sentence structure
In a negative sentence, the particle not is added to the verb to be in the past tense.
I was not (wasn’t) sleeping when she came. - Whenshecame, INotsleeping.
They were not (weren’t) preparing dinner at 2 pm. - INtwohoursdayTheyNotprepareddinner.
He was not (wasn’t) playing computer games that morning. - Thosein the morningHeNotplayedVcomputergames.
Interrogative sentence structure
In general interrogative sentences in the Past Progressive, the auxiliary verb is placed at the beginning of the sentence.
WereyoudoingyourhomeworkwhenIcalledyou? - Were you doing your homework when I called you?
Was he walking along the street when it started to rain? - HewalkedBystreet, Whenhas begunrain?
In a special question, the question word comes first, followed by an auxiliary verb, a subject, and a verb ending in -ing.
What were they doing when the police arrived? - WhatTheydid, Whenarrivedpolice?
Wherewashegoingat 5pmyesterday? -Where was he going yesterday at five o'clock in the evening?
The easiest way to construct a special question for the subject is to insert Who instead of the subject.
Whowassingingsuchanicesong? -Who sang such a beautiful song?
Please note: the verb in this case is always placed in the third person singular, regardless of the number of the subject in the answer.
They were laughing loudly. Who was laughing loudly? - Theyloudlaughed. Who laughed out loud?
Use
There are four uses of the Past Progressive in English. The rules go like this:
- The past continuous tense can denote a continuous action that happened in the past at a specific time. The emphasis falls not on the completion of the action, but on its duration. I was listening to music yesterday from 2 till 3 pm. - YesterdayWithtwobeforethreehoursdayIlistenedmusic. At 10 am yesterday I was having my breakfast. - YesterdayV10 a.mIhad breakfast. It is necessary to distinguish between Past Progressive and Past Simple, where a specific time is also indicated. In the first case, the action lasted at a certain time, and in the second, it began or ended. Yesterday at 10 o’clock in the morning I went to bath. - YesterdayV10 hoursmorningIwentVbathroom(disposableaction). Yesterday at 10 o’clock in the morning I was having a shower. - YesterdayVtenhoursmorningItookshower(long-termaction).
- Past Progressive also denotes two continuous actions that happened at the same time in the past. WhileIwascyclingmyfriendswereplayingtennis - While I was riding a bike, my friends were playing tennis.While I was reading a book, my sister was typing a text. - ByeIreadbook, mysistertypedtext.
- Past Progressive also indicates a long action that was interrupted by a short action (the Past Simple is used to denote it). I was watching a film when someone was knocked at the door. - Iwatchedmovie, Howall of a suddenWho-ThatknockedVdoor. When I woke up, my mother was talking on the phone. - WhenIawoke, myMothertalkedByphone. When I was slicing a carrot, I cut my finger. - WhenIchoppedcarrot, Ihurtfinger.
- The past continuous tense is also used to indicate an irritating action in the past. In this case, the adverb always is necessary. They were always coming late! - TheyAlltimewere late! Youwerealwayscriticizingme! - You always criticized me!
Verbs not used in Progressive
However, we cannot do without exceptions. Not all verbs can be used in the Past Progressive. The examples below will illustrate this material. In tenses of the Continuous (Progressive) group, non-continuous verbs are not used. These include:
- feelings and emotions - to love, to adore, to hate, to like;
- possessing something - to have, to possess;
- thinking abilities - to think, to believe;
- sense organs - to see, to smell, to hear, to taste;
- other verbs - to seem, to appear, to sound.
Some verbs are mixed. They have several lexical meanings, and the choice of grammatical tense depends on this.
| to look | |
I was looking at the picture when suddenly somebody’s hand touched my shoulder. I was looking at the picture when suddenly someone’s hand touched my shoulder. | He looked exhausted. He looked very tired. |
| to see | |
I was seeing a doctor from 9 till 10 am yesterday. Yesterday from 9 to 10 o'clock in the morning I had a doctor's appointment. | I saw him smiling. I saw that he was smiling. |
| to smell | |
She was smelling flowers when her husband came in. When her husband came in, she was smelling the flowers. | That pie smelled strange. We decided not to eat it. That pie smelled funny. We decided not to eat it. |
| to think | |
She was thinking about his words when the phone rank. He was just thinking about his words when the phone rang. | He thought it was a bad idea. Still, he couldn’t prove it. He thought (thought) it was a bad idea. But he couldn't prove he was right. |
| to weigh | |
She was weighing herself. She weighed herself. | Mary couldn't pick that box up. It weighed almost 70 kilos. Mary couldn't lift the box. She weighed almost 70 kilograms. |
Particular attention should be paid to the verb to be. It can also be used in the Past Progressive to mean "behave differently than usual."
Hewasveryrudethatevening! - That evening he behaved very rudely! (He is always rude, that evening was no exception).
Hewasbeingveryrudethatevening!Icouldn't'tbelievemyeyes. - That evening he behaved very rudely! I couldn’t believe my eyes (Usually he is polite, but that evening he was rude).
She was so quiet yesterday. Why does she always behave herself in such a way? - Sheyesterdaywassuchquiet. Why does she always behave like this?
She was being so quiet yesterday. Anythingwrongwithher? - Yesterday she was so quiet. She is all right?
So, Past Progressive indicates the duration of an action. But it is important to remember about non-continuous verbs - their use in any tense of the Continuous group is considered a gross mistake.
The Past Continuous tense, as is clear from the name itself, shows an action that not only happened in the past, but also occurs over a certain period of time, and therefore in Russian it completely sounds like the past continuous tense.
It is important to know
The past continuous tense in English requires compliance with one important condition: in order to make it clear that the speaker is focusing on the process, and not on the fact of the action, in the sentence, in addition to the Past Continuous itself, a certain time period is also used, which lasted for a certain time or happening at a specific minute. It can be either direct or indirect, that is, understandable from the context.
This is what it looks like:
· He was reading at 5 p.m. yesterday – He was reading at 5 yesterday(direct time indication)
· He was reading when we came – He was reading when we came(indirect indication of time)
In the second example, the exact time frame is not indicated, but from the situation itself it becomes clear why the Past Continuous form is used here: the action was long-lasting at a certain point in time, albeit without indicating a specific hour or segment.
Education Past Progressive Tense
The formation of the Past Continuous in its principle is practically no different from the Present Continuous, with the only difference being that this tense uses the past form of the auxiliary verb to be. It looks like this: was (for nouns and pronouns in the singular) and were (for the same parts of speech in the plural). The form of the verb in past continuus is the Present Participle, that is, the first participle ending in –ing. The general formula for this time is as follows:
Was
Were + V-ing
· She was doing homework from 4 to 6 p.m. yesterday – She did her homework yesterday from four to six
· Last Saturday we were fishing the whole day – Last Saturday we fished all day
Questions and denials
Using the Past Continuous in sentences with a question
does not pose any difficulty. Questions in the Past Continuous are formed as follows: the initial position is occupied by the auxiliary verb to be in the form that is required. It should be followed by the subject, and then the Participle I verb and the rest of the sentence:
· Were you swimming in the pool? – Did you swim in the pool?
· Was she cooking dinner when you came? – Was she preparing dinner when you arrived?
This type of question is called General, while there are other options for how to make a question in the Past Continuous. For example, a special question (Special), which, as is clear from its name, is asked using a special question word (why, how, when, etc.), which is placed in first place, and the rest of the structure follows it by observing the reverse word order. Interrogative sentences of this type look like this:
· Why were you working in the garden the whole evening yesterday? – Why did you work in the garden all evening yesterday?
· How was she preparing for her exam yesterday in the morning? It was so noisy! How did she prepare for the exam yesterday morning? It was so noisy!
Negative sentences
in the Past Continuous Active are also simple in their implementation: to form a negation, it is enough to add the particle not to the verb to be. Such use of continuus pastes, as a rule, does not cause difficulties. It is worth remembering that the shortened form of negation looks like wasn’t (= was not) or weren’t (= were not) and looks like this:
· He wasn’t dining there that evening - He didn’t have dinner there that evening
· We weren’t hurrying to our bus stop – We were not in a hurry to our bus stop
In addition to interrogative sentences and phrases with a question, any tense, including the Continuous Past, can form so-called negative-interrogative sentences. In this case, the particle adjacent to the verb to be is not. In the Past Continuous, examples of sentences of this type could be as follows:
· Wasn’t she waiting for you then? “Wasn’t she waiting for you then?”
· Weren’t they writing their test at that time? – Didn’t they write their test at that time?
Cases of using the Past Continuous
The past continuous tense in English is used in the following cases:
1. To show the duration of action,
happening in the past, representing either a specific period of time during which an action took place, or indicating that a situation occurred at some point. Many call a case where there is no specific time, an interrupted action, that is, an action where one process that occurred in the past is interrupted by another, committed once:
· When I returned, she was peeling potatoes – When I returned, she was peeling potatoes
· When he called me, I was preparing for my exam – When he called, I was preparing for the exam
Note: In this case, the exact moment in time is not indicated, but it becomes clear from the situation itself.
2. For action considered as a continuous process
Frequently occurring markers of such use of the Past Simple Continuous are the adverbs always, constantly, ever. Very often, such sentences carry a certain emotion, reinforced by these same adverbs. Something negative and irritating from the past often takes place here:
· She was constantly complaining of being lonely – She always complained about her loneliness
· John was always doing silly things like that - John always did some stupid things like that
3. In indirect speech
The case of using this continuous tense in , when the agreement rule requires the displacement of all tenses available in the sentence, deserves special attention. If we talk about this time, then when moving from direct speech to what is called indirect, the Past Continuous is the platform for the Present Continuous. This is done for the reason that the English language (unlike Russian) cannot contain tenses of different categories (Present and Past, Past and Future) within a complex sentence, and therefore, in order to show a continuous situation of the present tense, Reported Speech is used Past Continuous tense.
Below are examples of sentences in the Past Continuous in indirect speech:
Compare: “I am preparing for the exam,” said John – John said that he was preparing for the exam
“I am going there, mother,” said my sister – My sister said to mother that she was going there
By the same principle, other sentences are formed in different tenses, when it is time to move one step back.
4. Several actions in a sentence
In a situation where there is not one, but two actions in a sentence, and both of them occur at the same moment, that is, in parallel, then you can find an explanation for the use of Past Continuous and Past Indefinite. If the speaker is emphasizing the process, then a more logical option would be to use a long tense. But if duration does not play an important role, and only the fact of the action itself is emphasized, then such a sentence is formed using Past Indefinite:
· While she was cooking, I was sleeping – While she was cooking, I was sleeping(the speaker’s thoughts are based on two parallel long-term actions)
· While she cooked, I slept – While she was cooking, I was sleeping(the speaker reports facts, not the duration of two actions)
Markers of this time
overlap with other indicators of time in the Past category: yesterday, last week, then, etc. A characteristic feature is the frequent use of words and constructions such as at that moment, from ... to (till) ..., during, while, the whole morning, etc.; these auxiliary words emphasize duration and indicate process.
Note: with the constructions the whole day and all day long, two tenses are used at once: Past Continuous and Past Indefinite, i.e. These time indicators are not unambiguous and can be used in two cases.
They were writing invitations all day long = They wrote invitations all day long – They wrote invitations all day
Exceptions
As with any continuous tense, the Past Continuous Tense requires a careful approach to those verbs that do not form a Continuous form. There are several groups of verbs, the most common of which are those that describe sensory perception (hear, see, taste, etc.), mental activity (suppose, think, believe, etc.), emotions and feelings (like, hate, love , etc.) and some others.*
When working with the Past Continuous, the rules and examples in English described above will help you determine how to properly manage this time, remember in what situations this tense is not formed, and will also allow you to better understand all its subtleties and features of use that the Past Continuous has , like any other time, is enough.
"Past Continius" is the past continuous tense. This is an analytical form that is formed by using the auxiliary verb to be in the past tense (was / were) and adding the ending -ing to the semantic verb.
When native speakers use the Past Continuous
Native speakers of English quite often use this tense in their speech to express a long process that took place in the past. The beginning and end of an action do not matter because they are unknown. The only important thing is that the action is in process, i.e. continues.
An hour ago I was watching TV/ An hour ago I was watching TV.
Unlike Russian, where it is customary to allocate only three tenses (present, future and past), English contains as many as 12. But at the initial stage of learning a foreign language, it is important to understand that it also, in fact, has three tenses. However, they have their own grammatical variations, which foreigners spend a very long time and painstakingly trying to understand. In principle, there is nothing difficult in understanding the tenses of the English language. The main thing to remember is that, for example, tenses of the Simple category are aimed at expressing constant and regularly repeated actions, tenses of the Continuous category show duration, and the Perfect category focuses on the final result.
The English tense system is more complex than the Russian one, but it is more informative. The English language in general has a very clear and consistent structure. After all, this language has a clear word order, unlike Russian. As for times, the British have a suitable time for every occasion. They convey the meaning of a sentence by using a certain tense. The Russian language is less informative in this regard.
In what cases is the Past Continuous used?
There are four cases of using “Paste Continius”, the rules for its use must be clearly known and understood. Often, English language learners make a lot of mistakes when using tenses; they often forget about auxiliary verbs, endings, etc. Errors with endings occur in the Present Simple Tense when students forget to add endings to a verb in the third person.
To avoid such mistakes, you do not need to cram these rules by heart, but just understand the logic of use. In this situation, the topic of English times will be mastered quite quickly and efficiently.
The first rule for using Past Continuous Tense
Firstly, the Past Continuous is used to show actions that lasted at a certain moment or period in the past.
We were writing for one hour/We wrote for an hour.
It is important to note that, as a rule, such sentences contain indications of the time of what is happening or a whole period. For example, you can find in sentences of the past continuous tense such words indicating time as: at 6 a.m. (at 6 am), at 3 o`clock (at three o'clock), etc. Also in sentences there can be words indicating a period, such as while (while), whole day (whole day), during morning or some time (during the morning or some time), etc.
It is important to note that state verbs are not used in the Past and
Second rule of use
Secondly, "Past Continius" is used to express actions that took place at a certain period in the past, those. a situation that lasted a short period of time in the past. This period of time is usually specified in proposals.
He was studying literature in winter/ He studied literature in winter.
Third rule of use
Thirdly, "Past Continius", examples of which can be found in this article, is also used in situations that express individual plans of a person in the past, but for some reason they did not happen.
I was hoping to go to Canada/I was hoping to go to Canada.
Fourth rule of use
Fourthly, "Past Continius" is used to express a negative attitude towards other people's habits, etc. As a rule, such sentences are most often called emotionally charged. They can be accompanied by words such as always (always), often (often), constantly (constantly).
All the additional subtleties of using "Past Continius": sentences with examples
In addition to clear rules for using this tense, there are some other situations where it should be used. When else can we use Past Continius?
This tense is used if a person talks about two parallel actions, i.e. happening simultaneously in the past. As a rule, such actions are connected by conjunctions: and (and) and while (while). It should be noted that and one of the parallel actions of the sentence is not background to the others.
I was sleeping while my mother was cooking breakfast for me and my father/While I was sleeping, my mother was preparing breakfast for my father and me.
An interesting fact is that the Past Continuous and Past Simple are often used together to express the interruption of an action by another. Unclear? Then let's give a very striking example.
I was reading the book, when somebody knocked in the door/I was reading a book when someone rang the doorbell.
As a rule, such actions are connected by the conjunctions when (when), before (before), while (while), untill (not yet). In an informal conversation, sometimes instead of while is used when.
It is also important to note that the Past Continuous is used in most cases in fiction: in stories and histories. This tense is used to fully describe the atmosphere and setting of the story.