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Let’s Learn Past Continuous Tense

The past continuous tense tells us something about an action that was continually taking
place in the past.

Uses of Past Continuous Tense
The past continuous tense is used:

to show an action that was happening in the past. For example:
The boy was laughing alone.
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to show an action of a longer time period. For example:

When I reached her house, she was studying.
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to show an action that was happening at a particular time in the past. For example:

At 7 a.m., she was going to school.
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Formation of Past Continuous Tense
Continuous Tenses: Present, Past, Future
To form the past continuous tense, we use was or were with the -ing form of the main verb.
For example:
Yesterday I was studying with Kunal.
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They were playing cricket last Sunday.
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Making Negative and Interrogative Sentences in Past Continuous Tense
To form the negative in past continuous tense, we add not between the helping verb and
the main verb in its -ing form. For example:

Yesterday the horses were not jumping over the fence.
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Last Monday our teacher was not dictating notes.
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To form the interrogative in past continuous tense, the positions of the subject and the
helping verb are interchanged. For example:

Was he driving very fast?
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Were they all travelling together?
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Practice Time 2

A. Fill in the blanks with the past continuous form of the verbs given in brackets.
1. My mother ______________________ me to tidy my room. (tell)

2. They ______________________ cricket in the field. (play)

3. My friend and I ______________________ to watch a film. (go)
4. Why _______________ you ___________________ me if you were not sure? (promise)

5. The telephone _______________________________ when the doorbell rang. (ring)

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