Past Continuous Verbs

1. Past Continuous Verbs

2. Form of Past Continuous Subject + was / were + verb+ing Subject + was / were + not + verb+ing Yes/ No Question: Was / Were + subject + + verb+ing ? Information Question: (WH) + Was / Were + subject + verb+ing ?

3. Simple Past Tense • Actions, events, states that started and finished in the past(…ago, last …, yesterday… ) • Yesterday, I went to Walmart. • Ask: Is it finished? • Yes = Simple past

4. Simple Past Examples • What did you do yesterday? • I went to the store. • Where were you last Sunday morning? • I was at church. • When did you get to school? • I got to school at 7:30.

5. Past Continuous: Three Uses • Use 1:Past actions that were in progress at a particular time in the past; actions that were not yet finished at a past time Reo’s Schedule 8 – 9: had breakfast 9 – 10: did his homework 10 – 11: read the newspaper 11 – 12: ate lunch 12 – 2: watched TV 2 – 5: took a nap At 8:30, Reo was having breakfast. What was Reo doing at 9:30?

6. Stand and ask – use past continuous verbs:I was _______ing • Where were you last Thursday at 8 p.m.? What were you doing? • I was at home. I was watching TV. • What were you doing Friday at 5 p.m.? Where were you? Who were you with? • I was watching TV at home with my dogs. • What were you doing Sunday morning at 7 a.m.? • I was sleeping • What were you doing last year at this time? • I was teaching in Korea.

7. Past Continuous, continued • Use 2:Two (or more) actionsthat were in progress in the past at the same time • Use while Sorry, I wasn’t listening to you while you were talking. While I was reading, he was writing.

8. Let’s play charades!

9. Past Continuous, continued • Use 3:Describe and set the scene; tellwhat was happening or in progress when something else happenedor interrupted a past in-progress action • Usewhen

10. Form: Using past and past continuous together • Use past continuous to say what was in progress • Use simple past for the interrupting action I was crossingthe street when the driver ranthe red light.

11. Other examples: I was sleepingwhen the telephone rang and wokeme up. He was drivingtoo fast when he crashed the car.

12. More Examples: We were watchingthe news when the announcer made a special live report. I was tryingto study when you called. Student examples:

13. A little practice 1. I (make) ____________________ a deposit at my bank when a man in a mask (pull) ____________________ out a gun and started to rob the bank. 2. I (drive) ____________________ to work when I (see) ____________________ my neighbor’s door open and someone in the house. 3. They (walk) on the sidewalk when a car (hit) ____________________ the person closest to the road.

14. Watch the video and tell me what’s happening.

15. What tense? • Alexsandr (sleep) well last night. • Rain (sleep) when the fight started. • When Nattaruja got up this morning, it (rain). • It (rain) hard last night. • Kazu fell when he (play) in the park. • We (have) dinner when Zizu called. • Joris (write) an email when Kim called him. • Hokunani (paint) the walls yesterday. • Reo (drive) to Los Angeles in his new car.

16. Review • Simple past = action or state finished in the past (yesterday, last…, … ago, etc.) • Past continuous = was/were + verb+ing, an action that was in progress/not finished when another action happened (interrupted)

17. Remember –ing spelling rules?

18. When do you use While? • Use while for two actions in progress at the same time in the past: She was talking while he was driving. While he was sleeping, someone stole his car. (10pm - 6am) (1am-1:10am) If action 1 started and finished during action 2, use simple past for action 1.

19. When do you use when? • Use when when talking about sequence of events (one action that was in progress that was interrupted by another event in the past): I was just leavingwhen you called. (first action in progress) (interrupting event)

20. Punctuation with When and While • When and while at the front of a sentence, use a comma: When you called, I was watching TV. While he was washing the clothes,I was doing the dishes. • When and while in the middle of a sentence, no comma I was watching TV when you called. I was doing the dishes while he was washing the clothes.

21. When do we use Past Continuous? • Past actions that were not yet finished at a past time. • 2 or more actions happening at the same time. (While) • Tell what was happening when something else happened or interrupted it. (When)