The English language is characterized by the multiplicity of tenses in which it exists, each tense has its own formulation and use method, as well as words indicating each of them, Today we will study one of these tenses, which expresses the past it is a (past continuous tense).
We will recognize it in all its aspects, where we will review how it is drafted in every case, as we will learn about its uses and the words it refers to.
Read: pronunciation rules in English
Uses of the Past Continuous Tense
1- The past continuous tense uses to express two events that occurred with each other at the same time without intersection for examples :
- Sera was studying, while her sister was making the cake .
- While Arwa was playing video games, his brother was reading a poem .
2- The past continuous tense uses to express Several events, not one such as :
- John was drinking coffee and then he was writing his novel.
3- Also it uses to express an event that was happening during another event for examples :
- Dalia was watching the movie, when her friend called her.
- My daughter wasn’t listening to me, when i spoke him .
4 - It also used to talk about a specific time for examples:
- last morning at 4am, i was eating my dinner .
- At midnight, we were still playing PlayStation.
5- Sometimes used in literature and books to describe the general atmosphere such as :
- My grandma was watching T.V, my mother was cooking the pizza for us , and my sister was talking on the phone as usual.
6- We also use it to express anger at the recurrence of a particular act or event Such as :
- Farida was always coming late to office.
- He was always talking to her mom on the phone .
Formation of the past continuous tense
Now that we know all the uses of this tense , now we will move to the most important part of the lesson, which is how this tense is formulated in different cases.
| The case |
formation |
examples |
|---|---|---|
| Affirmation |
Was/ were + verb + ing |
-My little brother was playing volley ball . -My friends were painting their class. |
| negative |
Was/were+ not + verb + ing |
-Students weren't studying well for yesterday's exam. -Beter wasn’t making a sandwich. |
| Question |
Was/were+ subject + verb + ing ? |
-Was Hany doing his homework last night ? -Were your friends listening to music ? |
As we mentioned, there are words specific to each tense of English, associated with it that indicate its existence , so now we will recognize several words that refer to the tense of the past continuous and indicate its existence such as :
(While - When - as - all last week - all yesterday)
For examples:
- Jesy dropped the dishes, when her mom was cooking .
- While Arwa was flying her kite ,it pushed her.
So we are at the end of our lesson today, which was about one of the tenses that reflects the past, and we know how to formulate it, and when to use it smoothly and simple, with many examples.
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