The past continuous tense

The past continuous tense

The sentences uses the past continuous tense. It is used:

1.To talk about an action which was in progress at a ceratain time in the past

S+ (was/were+V-Ing+....) adv of time

Examples : mirna was writing a novel at about 7 p.m last night

                  The students were having a geograpy class 11 a.m yesterday

2.To talk aboyt two actionsa that occurred at the same time.One action began earlier and was in progrss when the other action occurred

Example: the children were having lunch when their mother came home

Meaning :the children Had lunch when their mother came home ,

Meaning : The children had lunch,then their mother came home. A fter that,the children probabbly still had lunch.

While/when +S1 pat continuous tense + S2+Simple past

Examples :

While I was sleepping the phone rang

When mr.jono was having a meeting a blast aound was heard

S1+Past continuous +when _S2+Simple past

 We was listening to the CD when someone knocked on the door

The teacher was explaining the lesson when the blackout happend

We can use when/while with the past continuous tense,ut we can only use when before the simple past tense

3.To talk about two long actions that were in the progress simultaneously

Example: I was studying, y mother was cooking

Meaning :studying needs much time,cooking also needs much time. They are considered as inthe same lenghth of time

While/when +S1 past continuous tense + S2+paast continuous tense

While mrs. Joe was cleaning the garden Mr.joe was plowing his field.

While the children were practicing singing the teenagers were preparing for a drama