English 3

Second Partial - week 5

Past progressive/ continuous.
Part 1
 Hello class! welcome to the fifth week.

The main topic for this session is : PAST PROGRESSIVE also

called PAST CONTINUOUS .

For this class is very important you remember what we

saw previously …

Which are the forms of the verb to be in past?

What is a gerund?
What are the spelling rules to write a verb in gerund form ?
We use past continuous:

✓ To express past habitual actions which were in progress at a

certain period of time.
Carlos was reading a magazine yesterday evening.

✓ To express two actions were happening at the same time.

Lina was calling Tom while Tom was taking a shower.

✓ To talk about an action in progress which was interrupted

by other action. The two sentences are
They were watching TV when the bell rang. usually joined by the
conjunctions while or when.
 a
Check the following sentences, match with the pictures
and say to which of the previous rules of use correspond:

1. I was driving carefully when a car crashed into my side.

b

2. I was walking on the sidewalk when an old man was

parking his car and crashed into a pole.

c
3. Yesterday, during the crash, my father was talking by
the phone to his car insurance agent.
 Part 2
We are going to continue studying past progressive and some important
things about it
Some important things to consider for this topic:

Was or were? = It depends on the subject

was = I, he, she, it
were = You*, we, they

The gerund (ING) = we need to follow some spelling rules

study - studying
make - making
cut - cutting
tie - tying
 SPELLING CHANGES Verbs Rules Examples

Verbs ending with one “e” • believe Drop –e and add – believing
( /e/ sound is silent) • have ing. having
• live living

Short one-syllable verbsending with CVC • sit Double final sitting

(consonant • get consonant and add – getting
vowel consonant) • plan ing. planning

Two or more syllable verbs • begin Double final beginning

with CVC • forget consonant if last forgetting
• Regret syllable is stressed. regretting

Verbs ending in –ie. • die Change –ie to –y and dying

( /e/ sound is silent) • lie add –ing. lying
Part 3
 Let´s practice ! Activity one. Order past continuous sentences and write the negative
and question form.
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE QUESTION

1. ice cream / eat /Tania/ this morning.

2. and/me/ play/ my family/ board games/
during last vacations.
3. Luis/ go /when/ crash/ a car/ to school/
in front of him.
4. the kids/clean the house/
outside./while/Mom/run
5. Sonia /her homework/ Samuel/do/
yesterday/ while/ bother her.
Just to point out
• We usually use WHILE when two actions were in progress at the
same time…
Sam was singing while we were dancing in the Muse concert.

• We usually use WHEN to express an interruption in the progress of

another action (if you could notice the action in progress is expressed
in past continuous and the one that «interrupts» in simple past).
I was passing in front of my crush when I fell down.
Note: always be
carefull and check
what the sentence
want to express.
Let´s practice. Activity 2. When or While?
1. Yesterday, we were doing the English test ____________ the fire alarm rang.

2. I saw the fire by the window ________ I was sitting on my school desk.

3. Teachers were shouting to leave the classroom _________ we were running

to the exit.

4. _________ you called me last night, I was studying for the test.

5. I didn’t imagine what would happen the next day, I didn´t know how to react
_______ all this happened.
Part 4
Activity 3. Test your memory! Don´t use any tool to solve the following excercise:.
• Activity 4. Reading and writing.
a)Read and underline the verbs in past and past progressive with different colors also sign
the words when and while.
b)After that write an e-mail to your best friend talking about the worst nightmare you have
had. Use the tenses past progressive ans past simple (80-100 words).

Dear Charly,
Last night when I was sleeping I had a strange dream. I was dreaming that I was walking on a
dark street and then the street ended and there was no way out . Suddenly, a man appeared
with a red and black stripped sweater and an old hat, he was calling me by my name. I was
walking towards him but I noticed he had knives instead of fingers so I was running while he
was chasing me. In my dream I started to shout like crazy louder and louder when I woke
up I saw my mom she was trying to wake me up because she heard my screams!
Did you have a nightmare like this?
Please let me know,
XOXO Sarah.
References

Evans, V., Dooley, J. (2006). Upload US1. US: Express Publishing.

Flores, R. (2019). English aware. Student´s book & workbook 2. México: Majestic
Education. Murphy, R. (2007). Essential grammar in use, 3rd edition with answers.
Inglaterra: Cambridge University Press.
Naylor, H., et al. (2007). Essential grammar in use, suplementary exercises, 2nd
edition. Inglaterra: Cambridge University Press.

https://agendaweb.org/verbs/past_progressive-exercises.html