Past continuous: form
We usewas/were+ the -ingform of the verb.
+ | I, she, he, it you, we, they | was were | working. | |
– | I, she, he, it you, we, they | (full form) was not were not | working. | |
I, she, he, it you, we, they | (short form) wasn’t weren’t | |||
? + | Was Were | I, she, he, it you, we, they | working? | |
? – | (full form) Was Were | I, she, he, it you, we, they | not | working? |
(short form) Wasn’t Weren’t | I, she, he, it you, we, they | |||
There are a number of spelling rules for when we make the-ingform of the verb.
See also:
Spelling
Past continuous: uses
Events happening at a particular time in the past
We generally use the past continuous to talk about actions and states in progress (happening) around a particular time in the past. It can emphasise that the action or state continued for a period of time in the past:
A:Where was Donna last night?
B:I’m not sure. I think shewas visitingher family. (action)
I remember that night. Youwere wearingthat red dress.(state)
See also:
Past continuous or past simple?
Background events
When one event is more important than another in the past, we can use the past continuous for the background event (the less important event) and the past simple for the main event:
[background event]Lisawas cyclingto schoolwhen[main event]shesawthe accident.
[background event]Whatwereyouthinkingaboutwhen[main event]youwonthe race?
See also:
Past continuous or past simple?
Reasons and contexts for events
We often use the past continuous to give a reason or context for an event:
A:I can’t believe you met Fran and Dave in Portugal.
B:It was funny. Theywere stayingin the hotel next to ours. (giving a reason/context for meeting them)
I didn’t make the meeting last week; Iwas travellingto Rome.
Ongoing and repeated events
We can use the past continuous to talk about repeated background events in the past. It can suggest that the situation was temporary or subject to change:
Shewas feedingher neighbours’ cat every morning while they were on holiday. Then one morning, it was gone.
The neighbourswere makingso much noise, night after night. We had to complain eventually.
We only use the past continuous for repeated background events. If they are repeated main events, we use the past simple:
Iphonedyou four times last night. Where were you?
Not:I was phoning you four times last night.
We don’t use the past continuous in the same way asused towhen we talk about things in the past which are no longer true:
Weused togo on holiday to Yorkshire every year when I was little.
Not:We were going on holiday…
See also:
Used to
Adverbs such asalways, constantly, foreverare used with the past continuous when we talk about repeated, unplanned or undesired events:
Wewerealwaysspendingso much time in traffic. That’s the main reason why we decided to move to the country and work from home.
My bosswasconstantly phoningme in my last job. I hated it.
Shewas forever losingher keys.
The past continuous and definite time
We sometimes use the past continuous to refer to a definite period of past time. This usually emphasises the event continuing over a period of time:
Wewere cookingall morning because we had 15 people coming for lunch.
Lots of uswere workingat the office on Saturday because we had to finish the project by Monday.