The past progressive, also called the past continuous, is a verb tense used for describing actions that occurred in the past. The past continuous also can show that a longer action in the past was interrupted by another action.
Construction
- In English, the past progressive has two parts: a past tense form of the verb "be" (was or were), plus the --ing form of a verb. For example, "I was eating dinner" and "The students were reading" are examples of sentences in the past progressive.
Usage
- The past progressive is used to indicate a past action that continued over time. It can also indicate a past action that was in progress when interrupted by another action. For example, "I was eating dinner when the phone rang" and "The students were reading when the bell sounded" show actions in the past (eating and reading) that were interrupted by another event.
Form of the Past Progressive/Continuous
We use a form of to be (was or were), the infinitive of the verb and the ending –ing.
to be (was, were) +
infinitive +
-ing
Affirmative sentences:
I/he/she/it
was playing football.
We/you/they
were playing football.
NOTE: Use
was with
I, he, she, it -
and
were with all other pronouns.
In affirmative sentences we do not use short forms in the Past Progressive.
Negative sentences:
I/he/she/it
was not playing football.
We/you/they
were not playing football.
We use short forms in the Past Progressive in negative sentences:
I/he/she/it
wasn't playing football.
We/you/they
weren't playing football.
Questions:
In the Past Progressive we put the auxiliary (was or were) before the subject
(Auxiliary - Subject - Verb - Rest).
Was I/he/she/it
playing football?
Were we/you/they
playing football?
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