Easy Word | Luyện ngữ pháp

Luyện ngữ pháp - Destination B1 (Unit 2: Grammar - Past simple, past continuous, used to)

Form - Past continuous

Past continuous
statement	I/he/she/it was playing ... You/we/they were playing ...
negative	I/he/she/it was not (wasn't) playing ... You/we/they were not (weren't) playing ...
question	Was I/he/she/it playing ...? Were you/we/they playing ...?

Use	Example
Actions happening at a moment in the past	At nine o’clock last night, I was watching TV.
Two actions in progress at the same time	I was reading a book while you were doing the washing-up.
Background information in a story	It was raining so Wendy decided to go to the cinema.

The past continuous is often used with the following words and phrases:
• at that moment
• at one/two/etc o’clock
• while

When one action in the past happens in the middle of another, we use the past simple and the past continuous together.

✓ The phone rang while I was watching a DVD

We do not use the past continuous for regular or repeated actions in the past.

✘ ~~Last year, I was going to the cinema every weekend.~~

Past continuous