Past Continuous Tense

 

Past Continuous Tense

What It Is:

We use the Past Continuous Tense to talk about an action that was happening at a particular time in the past.
It describes what was going on before something else happened.

 Formula:

Subject + was/were + verb + ing

👉 Was → with I, he, she, it, singular nouns
👉 Were → with we, you, they, plural nouns

Examples:

• I was reading a book at 8 p.m. last night.

• She was cooking dinner when I called.

• They were playing cricket yesterday evening.

• You were not listening to me!

Common Time Words:

• while

• when

• at that time

• yesterday evening / last night

Practice Exercises

A. Fill in the blanks using the Past Continuous form of the verb in brackets.

1. I ______ (watch) TV when the lights went off.

2. They ______ (play) football at 6 p.m. yesterday.

3. She ______ (not sleep) when I entered the room.

4. We ______ (travel) to Goa last summer.

5. What ______ you ______ (do) at 9 o’clock last night?

B. Write 3 sentences of your own using the Past Continuous Tense.