The past continuous is a tense that is used to express an ongoing action in the past that was happening at a specific moment of interruption, or that two ongoing actions in the past were happening at the same time.
Forming Past Continuous sentences
The past continuous is formed using was/were + present participle.
| Affirmative | Negative | Interrogative | Neg. interrogative |
| I was working. | I was not working. | Was I working? | Was I not working? |
| You were working. | You were not working. | Were you working? | Were you not working? |
| He was working. | He was not working. | Was she working? | Was he not working? |
| She was working. | She was not working. | Was he working? | Was she not working? |
| It was working. | It was not working. | Was it working? | Was it not working? |
| We were working. | We were not working. | Were we working? | Were we not working? |
| They were working. | They were not working. | Were they working? | Were they not working? |
Contraction with Past Continuous
When we use the Past Continuous tense in speaking or informal writing, we often contract the words like this:
| Negative | Negative interrogative |
| I wasn’t working. | Wasn’t I working? |
| You weren’t working. | Weren’t you working? |
| He wasn’t working. | Wasn’t he working? |
| She wasn’t working. | Wasn’t she working? |
| It wasn’t working. | Wasn’t it working? |
| We weren’t working. | Weren’t we working? |
| They weren’t working. | Weren’t they working? |
Using Past Continuous
Use 1 Interrupted action in the past
We often use Past Continuous to describe a longer action in the past that was interrupted by another action.
Examples:
- I was reading a book when Ian called.
- When the phone rang, he was getting dressed.
- What were you doing when he came home?
- I was watching Tv, so I didn’t hear anything.
- They were watching TV when the bell rang.
- I was washing my car when the accident happened!
Use 2 Specific time as an interruption
We can use Past Continuous to talk about actions in the past that were interrupted at specific time.
Examples:
- Last night at 11PM, he was sleeping and I was reading a book next to him.
- Yesterday at this time, I was flying home from my holiday in Thailand.
Use 3 Parallel Actions
We often use Past Continuous to describe event or actions that were both happening at the same time in the past.
Examples:
- On our way home, I was driving while he was sleeping on the passenger seat.
- Were you listening while he was talking?
- What were you doing while I was working?
Use 4 Do describe atmosphere
We often use Past Continuous to describe atmosphere at a particular time in the past.
Example:
- When I was walking home from work, it was raining and people were walking fast. Everybody was getting wet.
Use 5 Irritation with “Always” and “Constantly”
We often use the past continuous with “always” and “constantly” to talk about something irritating or shocking that repeatedly happened in the past.
Examples:
- He was always driving so fast.
- He was constantly talking. He annoyed everyone.
- I didn’t like her because she was always complaining.