Past Continuous Tense過去進行式

Past Continuous Tense過去進行式

1.      We use the Past Continuous to talk about actions or situations that lasted for some time in the past, and whose duration time is unknown or unimportant.

l   I was watching TV yesterday in the evening.

l   She was sleeping on the couch.

l   The dog was barking.

2.      The Past Continuous is often used when one action in progress is interrupted by another action in the past. We usually use when or while to link these two sentences.

l   I was talking with James when the telephone rang.

l   While Angelica was playing tennis, the plane crashed.

l   When Bob was painting windows, it started raining.

The structure of the past continuous tense is:

subject	+	auxiliary verb BE	+	main verb
		conjugated in simple past tense		present participle
		was were		base + ing

For negative sentences in the past continuous tense, we insert not between the auxiliary verb and main verb. For question sentences, we exchange the subject and auxiliary verb. Look at these example sentences with the past continuous tense:

	subject	auxiliary verb		main verb
+	I	was		watching	TV.
+	You	were		working	hard.
-	He, she, it	was	not	helping	Mary.
-	We	were	not	joking.
?	Were	you		being	silly?
?	Were	they		playing	football?

Exercise:

1.     Mr. Lee __________ (take) photographs in the park when it rained.

2.     Ben __________(walk) on the road when the accident happened.

3.     The water boiled while mother __________(cook) the meal.

4.     While the boys __________(sing), teacher came in.

5.     I __________(sleep) when the phone rang.

6.     You __________(sleep) when the bell rang

7.     I __________(swim) when Man Keung called me.

8.     The man __________(run) when the fire broke out.

9.     The birds __________(sing) all morning.

10. We __________(talk) loudly when the teacher came in.

11. My father __________(sleep) when I knocked on his door.

12. The girl __________(read) when her friend came in the room.

13. The dog __________(bark) all last night.

14. While I __________(write), my mother came in.

15. While she __________(wait) for her friend, the bus came.

16. While they __________(have) their dinner, the postman came to their house.

17. The workers __________(repair) the pipes when my father went out.

18. The two women __________(quarrel) all this afternoon.

19. While they __________(make) a chair, she __________(draw) a picture.

20. The doorbell rang, while I __________(have) my dinner.

21. Tom burnt his hand when he __________(cook) the dinner.

22. We saw an accident while we __________(cross) the road.

23. Mary fell asleep while she __________(read) a book.

24. The television was on but nobody __________(watch).

25. Jane __________(wait) for me when I arrived.