PAST CONTINUOUS

Take a look to these situations:

Yesterday, at six o'clock...

Bart was playing football

Lisa was reading a book

All these sentences are

Milhouse was crying written in past continuous, so
let's see how and when we
can use them.
 USE
As we have seen in the previous examples, the past continuous is used to talk about
actions that were happening but they didn't finish at that time.

For example: We were watching a film last night.

It means that we were at that time

there, so the action didn't finish at that
time.

If we want to convey a finished action: which tense

should we use?
PAST SIMPLE
 AFFIRMATIVE SENTENCES
Firstly, we must include a subject, followed by the verb to be

and the main verb with the -ing ending (gerund).

I was reading
You were reading The formation is
He was reading similar to the
She was reading present
It was reading
We were reading
continuous but the
They were reading verb TO BE is in
PAST TENSE

Do you remember the rules to LET'S

form gerunds?
 GERUND FORMATION
There are a few exceptions when we turn a verb into a gerund:

When the verb finish with the vowel -E (mute)

we remove the vowel and add -ING Coming
e

If there is a vowel between two consonants

we repeat the final consonant and then
we add the -ing form. Putt ing

But those verb which finish in -x, -y and

Fax ing
-w, NEVER double the final consonant
so we just add the -ing form.
Play ing
Draw ing
 NEGATIVE SENTENCES
Negative sentences share the same outline as affirmative ones

but we have to add NOT between the verb to be and the gerund .

You
I wasn't
was
were
weren't
N reading
reading But you can
also use the
He was reading
She
It
wasn't
was
wasn't
was O reading
reading
short form
with the verb
We wasn't
were reading
They were
weren't
weren't
T reading
and not, like
this:
 INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES
With interrogative sentences we follow the same pattern as every question by adding the
verb to be first,
followed by the subject and we include the gerund.

Was I reading
Were You reading So remember to
Was He reading change the order
Was She reading between the subject
Was It reading
and the verb as you
Were We reading
do in every
Were They reading
question.
 CONCLUSION
So remember that the past continuous is used to convey actions that were happening
during the past but the action did not finish yet.

The affirmative sentences are formed by the subject, the verb to be

and the main verb verb with the -ing form for gerunds.

To be
Subject Subject
To be Gerund
Negative
Gerund Gerund

I, you, he, she , I, you, he, she ,

Was , Were was , were playing
not
playing? playing
it, we, they it, we, they

In negative sentences, we write "not" after the verb to be.

And, finally, in questions we have to change the order between the subject and the verb,
followed by the -ing form.
AND, NOW, IT'S TIME
TO WORK!!!!