Vivian Constanta

PAST CONTINUOUS

A. FORM

Affirmative form Negative form Interrogative form

I was working I was not/wasn’t working I

we we
you were working you were not/ weren’t working were we
they they you working
they
Questions and short
answers:
1. I was playing tennis for 1. She wasn’t playing the piano last night.
two hours yesterday. were they playing tennis?
Yes, I were.
No, I weren’t.

Was he playing tennis?

Yes, he was.
No, wasn’t.
Notes on spelling:

If the verb ends in –ie we change it to –y and then add -ing:

If the verb ends in -e we delete the -e and add -ing:

If the verb ends in a consonant we double it and then add -ing:

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B. USE

USE EXAMPLES
when we talk about interrupted actions in the • As I was watching TV Mary called.
Past using as/while-clauses or when- clauses
• The phone rang, while she was writing
with past simple.
a letter.
• While we were having the picnic, it
started to rain.
• What were you doing when the
earthquake started?
when we talk about a series of completed • Last night at 6 PM, I was eating
actions dinner.
• At midnight, we were still driving
through the desert.
• Yesterday at this time, I was sitting
at my desk at work.
when we talk about parallel actions in the past • I was studying while he was making
dinner.
• While Ellen was reading, Tim was
watching television.
• Were you listening while he was
talking?
• I wasn't paying attention while I was
writing the letter, so I made several
mistakes.

C. TIME EXPRESSIONS/ADVERBS OF FREQUENCY

S + Verb + time expression

for two hours/days, all morning/day/evening/night, while, as

e.g. We were watching TV at 9 o’ clock last night.

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1. Fill in the gaps with the correct form of the verb in brackets in past
simple or past continuous.

My birthday party last week

A week ago I ________ (have) my birthday party at my house. I ________

(want) to celebrate my 30th birthday with many friends and relatives so I

________ (invite) many people. It (take) place at 8 o’clock at my house and

everybody ________ (be) there.

My best friend ________ (bring) a big cake which was very delicious. I

________ (blow) out the candles and then we all ________ (have) a big piece

of cake. After that we ________ (dance) to the music, ________ (sing) and

________ (enjoy) the food. Unfortunately something bad ________ (happen)

at the end of the evening while my best friend ________ (come) down the

stairs. As she ________ (walk) down the steps she ________ (slip) and fell .

We all ________ (run) to her as she ________ (cry) with pain. We ________

(try) to help her stand up but it ________ (be) difficult so we ________ (call)

the ambulance. The doctor ________ (say) she ________ (be) fine and that

she ________ (not have) to stay in the hospital so we ________ (take) her

home. While we ________ (drive) back from the doctor she ________ (tell)

me that she ________ (be) sorry about my party but I ________ (say) I

________ (be) happy because she ________ (be) fine.

In spite of the accident my party ________ (be) nice and we ________

(enjoy) ourselves but the most important thing is that my friend is fine.