7596 using the past continuous

Using the Past ContinuousA past point in time Questions A past period NOTE: We use the past continuous to say that an action was in progress at every moment during a period of time / to

Using the Past Continuous

A past point in time

Questions

A past period

NOTE: We use the past continuous to say that an action was in progress at every

moment during a period of time / to say that an action in the past was temporary

I was playing football with my friend Becks

Honest Governor

Complete the sentences using the past continuous:

I didn’t get any sleep last night because………

……….……….….all day yesterday.

……… …… for the whole morning.

……….……… during the afternoon.

……… ………….… last August.

Someone broke into the school and stole all our grammar

books The police suspect that the crime was committed by

some very enthusiastic English students What were you

doing at 8 o’clock last night?

Was he

travelling

through

time?

NOTE: We use the past continuous to say that an action was in

progress at a particular time in the past The action had already

started at this time, but had not finished

I didn’t sleep last night because the damn cats were fighting.

While we were talking to the police they mentioned a very strange case that they were working on last year

Apparently they found a body in the middle of a field The

body was lying face down and the limbs were pointing out at

very strange angles

Can you guess what the poor man was doing immediately

before his death?

Interrupted past actions

NOTE: We use the past continuous together with the past simple The past continuous refers to a "longer" or "background" action that was in progress; the past simple

refers to a shorter action that interrupted the longer action, or happened in the

middle of it

Repeated actions in the past

NOTE: We use the past continuous with words such as always to talk about things

that happened repeatedly

Verbs that aren’t used

We do not normally use some verbs in the past continuous tense, because they are not

normally action verbs These verbs include: believe, belong, depend, hate, know, like, love, mean, need, prefer, realise, suppose, want, understand

They knew each other very well

They were knowing each other very well

My mum was always saying that if I ate too many carrots I’d turn into one.

Complete the sentences using the past continuous:

When I was young I ……….……… ……….…

My friends………

My parents ……….…………

My grandmother ……… ………

My teacher ………

Complete the sentences: ……… and suddenly an angel appeared I was watching the television when ……… ………

……… while he was playing computer games While ……… I saw………

I was finishing

my homework

when a dog

came and ate

it.

Trinity 6: Using the Past Continuous in Conversation Useful lexis

I was talking to a friend the other day and she said that…

I watching TV the other day and …….

Actually, I was reading about this last month.

In fact, I was reading an article on fashion yesterday.

My friends and I were always getting into trouble at school.

While I was travelling in Spain I bought a fan and some castanets.

I was thinking about joining a gym but I don’t know if I’ll have time to go.

Have you had any bad travel experiences?

Once, when was I was visiting a friend in England our plane was delayed by 7 hours

Do you travel a lot?

Yes I like to escape from Guadalajara whenever I have time Actually I was planning a trip to Italy with my

friend the other day

Where will you travel to next?

If I have enough money I’ll hire a house in France this summer I was looking at prices on the internet this

morning.

Did you receive any pocket money when you were young?

My parents only gave me £2 per week I was always begging them for more.

Is fashion important to you?

No it isn’t I was watching a programme the other day and the presenter was wearing some fashionable

green trousers They looked ridiculous.

Do you ever read fashion magazines?

Yes I read Marie Clair and Vogue In fact I was reading Vogue this morning and I saw a good article on

summer clothes.

Did you were any crazy fashions when you were young?

Yes I was always colouring my hair and wearing ripped jeans to look like my favourite pop star.

Did you ever break the rules at your school?

Yes I was always getting in trouble at school For example once when I was doing an experiment in science I

burned my friend’s hair

Do you ever work out?

I never go to the gym but I go running with my dog Actually I was running with him this morning.

How can people be healthier?

We were talking about this in class the other day I think you have to do regular exercise You also need to

have a healthy diet.

Is it possible to learn a language on-line?

I was doing some English exercise on line last month They’re useful to practice grammar rules structures

but you need a teacher to correct your pronunciation.

Exercise 1: The man was parachuting but his parachute didn’t open.