Before starting with the topic, here you can listen to lots of examples of sentences in past progressive. They are clear and brief. Watch it, because it is an enjoyable way to learn this tense.
Paco was visiting the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and was walking around the Lanes. The Lanes are a collection of narrow lanes, famous for their small
shops and several antique shops and narrow alleyways.
He tried to speak on the phone with his family everyday but sometimes it was too late or he was too busy to call.
One night, Isabel was cooking when the telephone rang. She was thinking about what Paco was doing in Brighton. In fact, she was expecting a call coming from Britain. It was Paco, indeed.
They were speaking for a long time. Isabel was alone at home and Paco couldn't speak to Sonia. His father was also out, so Paco was telling his mother about a lot of places he was visiting and that he was also learning a lot about British culture.
Sure you can identify the Past Continuous in affirmative form.
How many examples are there in the text?
Paco was visiting the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and was walking around
the Lanes. The Lanes are a collection of narrow lanes, famous for their
small shops and several antique shops and narrow alleyways.
He tried to speak on the phone with his family everyday but sometimes it was too late or he was too busy to call.
One night, Isabel was cooking when the telephone rang. She was thinking
about what Paco was doing in Brighton. In fact, she was expecting a
call coming from Britain. It was Paco, indeed.
They
were speaking for a long time. Isabel was alone at home and Paco
couldn't speak to Sonia. His father was also out, so Paco was telling
his mother about a lot of places he was visiting and that he was also
learning a lot about British culture.
AV - Reflexión
Do you remember the reasons why you can use a Past Continuous in an English sentence?
HAVE A LOOK AT THE MAIN USES OF THE PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE:
USE 1. Interrupted Action in the Past.
Use the Past Continuous to indicate that a longer action in the past was
interrupted. The interruption is usually a shorter action in the Simple Past.
Remember this can be a real interruption or just an interruption in time:
When the phone rang, she was writing a letter.
USE 2. Specific Time as an interruption.
In USE 1 we have seen that the Past Continuous is interrupted by a shorter
action in the Simple Past. However, you can also use a specific time as an
interruption:
Yesterday at this time, I was speaking on the phone at work.
USE 3. Parallel actions.
When you use the Past Continuous with two actions in the same sentence, it
expresses the idea that both actions were happening at the same time. The
actions are parallel.
I was studying English while my flatmates were cooking dinner.
USE 4. Atmosphere.
The English language sometimes uses a series of parallel actions to describe the
atmosphere at a particular time in the past:
When I got home, my sister was watching television, my mother was reading a book,
my father was speaking on the phone and my grandparents were playing chess in the sitting room.
USE 5. Irritation with always in the past.
The Past Continuous with adverbs like always or constantly expresses the
idea that something irritating often happened in the past:
I didn't like that teacher because he was always shouting.
Solved exercise
1) You / play / tennis / with your friends
2) Alex / do / his homework / with Andrés
3) Paco / visit / several museums / in London
4) I / study / Maths / at the Library
5) We / read / about Great Britain
Write sentences with the Past Continuous in affirmative.
1) You were playing tennis with your friends.
2) Alex was doing his homework with Andrés.
3) Paco was visiting several museums in London.
4) I wasstudying Maths at the Library.
5) We were reading about Great Britain.
Self-assessment exercise
Complete the blanks with the Past Continuous forms of the verbs in brackets.
When I phoned my friends they
JXUwMDJmJXUwMDEyJXUwMDE3JXUwMDE3
JXUwMDMwJXUwMDA3JXUwMDAzJXUwMDA4JXUwMDBkJXUwMDA3JXUwMDA5
(TO HOLD) a party at home. Some of them
JXUwMDJmJXUwMDEyJXUwMDE3JXUwMDE3
JXUwMDI4JXUwMDFjJXUwMDBkJXUwMDE4JXUwMDEwJXUwMDA3JXUwMDA5
(TO PLAY) monopoly, others
JXUwMDJmJXUwMDEyJXUwMDE3JXUwMDE3
JXUwMDI4JXUwMDAyJXUwMDE3JXUwMDE1JXUwMDExJXUwMDEzJXUwMDFiJXUwMDA3JXUwMDA5
(TO PREPARE) dinner for their children. The boys
JXUwMDJmJXUwMDEyJXUwMDE3JXUwMDE3
JXUwMDJiJXUwMDA0JXUwMDFlJXUwMDA0JXUwMDAwJXUwMDA0JXUwMDA3JXUwMDA5
(TO SWIM) in the pool and the girls
JXUwMDJmJXUwMDEyJXUwMDE3JXUwMDE3
JXUwMDM0JXUwMDA1JXUwMDFhJXUwMDA3JXUwMDExJXUwMDBiJXUwMDA3JXUwMDA3JXUwMDA5
(TO LISTEN) to music in the sitting room, except one of them who
JXUwMDJmJXUwMDE2JXUwMDEy
JXUwMDJmJXUwMDE2JXUwMDE1JXUwMDE3JXUwMDBiJXUwMDAxJXUwMDA3JXUwMDA5
(TO WATCH) TV. The little children were practising (TO PRACTISE) the guitar in the garden. A neighbour
JXUwMDJmJXUwMDE2JXUwMDEy
JXUwMDNiJXUwMDBjJXUwMDAyJXUwMDFkJXUwMDFjJXUwMDBkJXUwMDA4JXUwMDA3JXUwMDA3JXUw
MDA3JXUwMDA5
(TO COMPLAIN) about the noise they
JXUwMDJmJXUwMDEyJXUwMDE3JXUwMDE3
JXUwMDM1JXUwMDBjJXUwMDBhJXUwMDAyJXUwMDA3JXUwMDA5
(TO MAKE).
Important
A SLIGHT DIFFERENCE IN USE BETWEEN THE PAST SIMPLE AND THE PAST CONTINUOUS
In the Past Simple, a specific time is used to show when an action began or
finished:
Yesterday at midnight I listened to the radio (I started listening to it at midnight)
However, in the Past Continuous a specific time only shows what was happening, in progress at that time. It is not that the action started or finished at that time, but that the action was already in progress.
Yesterday at midnight I was listening to the radio
(I started earlier than midnight. At midnight I was already listening to the radio)
Reading activity
AV - Reflexión
Solved exercise
Self-assessment exercise
Important
Further knowledge