ENGLISH TENSES

[
]THE PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE]
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[

was/were present participle

Affirmative Negative Interrogative
I was sleeping I wasn’t sleeping Was I sleeping ?
You were sleeping You weren’t sleeping Were you sleeping ?
He was sleeping He wasn’t sleeping Was he sleeping ?.
She was sleeping. She wasn’t sleeping Was she sleeping ?
It was sleeping. It wasn’t sleeping Was it sleeping ?
We were sleeping We weren’t sleeping. Were we sleeping ?
You were sleeping. You weren’t sleeping. Were we sleeping ?
They were sleeping They weren’t sleeping. Were they sleeping ?



When you use the Past Continuous with the same sentence, it expresses the idea that both actions were happening at the same time. The actions are parallel.

Examples:
• 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
• They were eating dinner, discussing their plans, and having a good time.



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.
Examples:
• I was watching TV when she called.
• When the phone rang, she was writing a letter.
• While we were having the picnic, it started to rain.
• What were you doing when the earthquake started?
• 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.
• While John was sleeping last night, someone stole his car.
• Sammy was waiting for us when we got off the plane.
• While I was writing the email, the computer suddenly went off.
.
In USE 1, described above, the Past Continuous is interrupted by a shorter action in the Simple Past. However, you can also use a specific time as an interruption.
Examples:
• Last night at 6 PM, I was eating dinner.
• At midnight, we were still driving through the desert.
• Yesterday at this time, I was sitting at my desk at work.

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.
Examples:
• 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.
• What were you doing while you were waiting?
• Thomas wasn't working, and I wasn't working either.
• They were eating dinner, discussing their plans, and having a good time.

In English, we often use a series of parallel actions to describe the atmosphere at a particular time in the past.
Example:
• When I walked into the office, several people were busily typing, some were talking on the phones, the boss was yelling directions, and customers were waiting to be helped. One customer was yelling at a secretary and waving his hands. Others were complaining to each other about the bad service.


The Past Continuous with words such as "always" or "constantly" expresses the idea that something irritating or shocking often happened in the past. The concept is very similar to the expression "used to" but with negative emotion. Remember to put the words "always" or "constantly" between "be" and "verb ing."
Examples:
• She was always coming to class late.
• He was constantly talking. He annoyed everyone.
• I didn't like them because they were always complaining.
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a. ‘verbs of thinking’ think , know , believe , guess etc
b. State verbs such as “be” , “seem”
c. Verbs of feeling” such as : “like” , dislike” “hate”[/justify][right]