Unit 2

Past Continuous Tense

 Past Continuous Tense
Structures
Positive Str: subject + was/were + verb-ing + ROTS.
He was studying for the final exam.
The teacher was teaching in the class.
Negative Str: subject + was/were + verb-ing + ROTS.
He was not studying for the final exam.
The teacher was not teaching in the class.
Interrogative Str: Was/Were + subject + verb-ing + ROTS
Was he studying for the final exam?
Was the teacher teaching in the class?
 Usages
 Use 1: shows a past continuous action

Past progressive tense is used to express an action that was

in progress at particular or unparticular time in the past.

Examples:
He was working in the office at 9:00.
My brother was sleeping at home.
They were watching an English movie.
Aslam was talking with Ali on the phone.
He was exercising early in the morning.
 Cont…
 Use 2:
Past continuous tense is used to express an action that was in
progress, but it was interrupted by another action. In this case, we
use “when” and “while”.
when: is used with simple past tense
while: is used with past continuous tense
Note: progressive action (past continuous tense)
action that interrupts (simple past tense)

Examples:
While the teacher was teaching in the class, Mr. Ali came.
The teacher was teaching in the class when Mr. Ali came.

I was typing a letter when electricity went.

While I was typing a letter, electricity went.
 Cont…
 Use 3:
Past continuous tense is used to show two actions that were
in progress at the same time without interrupting each
other. In this case, we use only “while”.

while: is used with past continuous tense

Note: both the sentences must be in past progressive tense
Examples:
While the teacher was teaching, the students were listening.
The students were listening while the teacher was teaching.

While the singer was singing, the dancers were dancing.

The dancers were dancing while the singer was singing.
 Cont…
 Time Clause
A clause is a group of related words that has a subject and a verb.
while/when/ before/after + subject + verb

Note: when the time clause comes first, we use a comma before the
main clause.

Examples:

While the teacher was teaching, the students were listening.

When you called me, I was studying an interesting novel.

They were playing cricket when the rain started.

The car hit him while he was crossing the road.