UNIT 12 Past continuous (lwas doing) UN

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a) Study this example situation:

Yesterday Tom and Jim played tennis. They began at

10 o'clock and finished at 11 o'clock.
'§lhat
were they doing at 10..30?
They were playing tennis (at 10.30).
'They were playing' me ans that they were in the middle
of playing tennis. They had started playing but they
hadn't finished.
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This is the past continuous tensei
[/he/she was I
we/they/you *... I Pl"YtnB

§le_q.1e,the pqgt continuous to say that someone was in the middle of doing something at a
_ge¡¡_a_r_¡._¡!11e.. Tl-r9.agtion or situation had already started bcfore this time but hadn't finishcd:
- This time last year I was living in Brazil.
- \Vbat were you doing at 10 o'clock last nighti
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b) The past continuous does not tell us whether an action was finished or not. Perhaps it was
finrshed;perhaps not. Compare:
- Tom was cooking the dinner. (pdst continuous): He was in the middle of
cooking the dinner and n e don't knou, whethc¡ he finishcd cooking it.
- Tom cooked the dinrrer. \pdst simple): He began and finished it.

c) We often use thepast continuous (I was doing) and thc past simplc (I did) together to say that
something happcned in the middlé of something else:
- Torn burnt his hand when he was cooking the dinner. r2.4
- I saw Jim in the park. He was sitting on the grass and reading a book'
- It was raining when lgot up.
- §lhile I was working in the garden, I hurt my back.
But to say that one thing happened after another, use the past sin.rple:
Yesrerday evening Tom was having a bath s hen rhe phone r,rng. He got out
of the l¡ath and answered the phonc.
Compare:
- §lhen Tom arrived, we were having dinncr. l.p,tst cont¡ t!()l!s - \\'e had
already started dinncr before Tom arrived.
When Tom arrjved, we had dinner. (past sitnple) : Tom a rrir cd and then we
had dinner.
No¡¿,: There are some verbs (for examplc know) rvhich are not norm:¡lll useJ in continuous
tenses. For a list of rhese verbs see Unit 3b.

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