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Past continuous - Coggle Diagram
Past continuous
Usages
Events happening in a particular time in the past
Continuous action in a particular time in the past
Ex: I was driving when my telephone rang
Ex: John was taking the test when I was working.
Ex: My neighbor was playing music last night.
Background Events
Main event in the Simple Past and the background event in the Past Continuous
Ex: Lisa was crying in school when she saw the accident
Ex: What were you thinking about when you won the race?
Ex: When the pizza arrived John was coming home.
Reasons of context for events
Ex: I didn’t make the meeting last week; I was travelling to Rome.
Ex: John couldn't come on time. He was doing overtime.
Ex: I was late to the movie because I was cleaning home.
Ongoing and repeated events
Ex: The neighbours were making so much noise, night after night. We had to complain eventually.
We only use the past continuous for repeated background events. If they are repeated main events, we use the past simple
Ex: I made pizzas night after night when I was working in that restaurant
Simultaneous actions
Things happening at the same time
Ex: I was cooking while my brother was preparing the table.
Ex: The cat was sleeping and her owner was watching TV.
Interrupted actions
Ex:
I was sleeping when I heard the loud noise.
Note
When is normally used with the Simple Past Tense.
While is normally used with the Past Continuous Tense.
Structure
Affirmative: [Subject] was/were [verb+ing] ...
Negative: [Subject] was/were not [verb+ing] ...
Was/Were [subject] [verb+ing]?
Contractions
Was + not = wasn't
Were + not = weren't