The Past Continuous
English has two main ways to referring to the past : the simple
past and the past continuous.
Here is the difference between the two
Past Continuous
Simple Past
Verb Forms in Past
 Describe a
completed action in
the past.
 Describe a situation
in the past or a past
habit.
 Describe an action
that was in progress
at a specific moment
in the past.
 Indicate that one
action was in
progress when
another action took
place.
 Show that two
actions were
happening
simultaneously in
the past.
Simple past *Revision*
+ S + V + R.
-
Examples
Key Words
 Yesterday
 Yesterday
morning /
My dog went to a
afternoon /
trainer last year.
evening
 Last night /
week / month
I was walking my dog
/ year
at four o’clock
yesterday afternoon.
 After that
 Two years ago
They were sleeping
 In 2005
when the parrot
 In March
squawked.
 When
 While
 Meanwhile
It was raining while
 At the same
they were riding the
time
horses last week.
 At that
moment
 At that time
I decided to buy my
cat a toy yesterday.
(Regular verbs = verb + ed; irregular
verbs, look at the list.)
S + did not + V base + R
(didn’t)
? Y/N
? Info
Did + S + V base + R?
QW + Did + S + V base + R?
To Be in the Simple Past
+
S + V + R.
S + V + not + R.
? Y/N V + S + R?
? Info QW + V + S + R?
Past Continuous
+
S + Aux + Verb+ing + R.
To be, simple past
I was reading on the couch.
-
S + Aux + not + Verb+ing + R.
I was not sleeping when you arrived.
I
You
He/She/It
We
You
They
was
were
was
were
were
were
? Y/N
Aux + S + Verb+ing + R +?
Were you laughing at me?
? Info
QW + Aux + S +Verb+ing + R + ?
Why were you laughing at her?
Some verbs cannot be used in the continuous (present or past).
Like, dislike, love, hate, need, want, prefer
Know, understand, remember, forget, believe, mean, think
(opinion).
See, hear, taste, smell, feel, seem, appear.
Have, belong to, possess, own.
Spelling tips
When the verb ends in:
 y  add ing
try  trying; buy  buying
 VC (single syllable word)  double the C and add ing.
pet  petting; stop  stopping
 e  drop the e and add ing
advise  advising
dance  dancing