2. What Is The Past Continuous Tense?
The past continuous tense, also known as the past progressive tense, is a verb
tense used to express actions or situations that were ongoing, continuous, or in
progress at a specific point in the past. For example,
• She was reading a book when I called her.
• They were playing soccer in the rain.
In these examples, the actions (reading a book, playing soccer) were in progress at a
specific moment in the past when another event occurred (when I called her, in the
rain).
3. How To Form The Past Continuous
To form the past continuous tense, the auxiliary verb “to be” should be in its
past form (was/were), followed by the present participle of the main verb (the
-ing form). The structure for the past continuous tense is:
Subject + was/were + verb(-ing)
Examples:
• He was playing soccer.
• They were watching a movie.
4. How To Form Past Continuous Negative
Sentences
To make negative statements in the past continuous tense, simply add “not”
after the auxiliary verb:
Subject + was/were + not + verb(-ing)
Examples:
• She was not studying for the exam.
• We were not attending the conference.
5. Simple Past Tense
They swam this morning.
(Mereka berenang pagi ini.)
Past Continuous Tense
They were swimming at 7 o’clock.
(Mereka sedang berenang pada pukul tujuh.) mereka
sudah mulai berenang sebelum pukul tujuh dan
akan selesai setelahnya (mungkin pukul delapan)
They were swimming when the lightning struck the
tree.
(Mereka sedang berenang ketika petir menyambar
pohon.)
Contoh:
6. Simple Past Tense + Past Continuous Tense
Simple past tense dan past continuous tense sering digunakan bersama-
sama. Past continuous tense mendeskripsikan background
action atau situation (aksi atau situasi yang lebih panjang), sedangkan simple
past tense menjadi action atau event-nya (aksi atau kejadian yang terjadi
dengan cepat). Seringkali aksi yang dideskripsikan simple past
tense menginterupsi aksi yang dideskripsikan past continuous tense.
7. past continuous + simple past
He was driving back from the post office when
he saw you go in the building.
(Dia sedang mengemudi kembali dari kantor pos
ketika dia melihatmu masuk ke gedung tersebut.)
I was sleeping when Vina knocked on my door.
(Saya sedang tidur ketika Vina mengetuk
pintu.) saya sudah mulai tidur sebelum Vina
mengetuk pintu
simple past + simple past
I went home when the bell rang.
(Saya pulang ke rumah ketika bel berbunyi.) saya
pulang setelah bel berbunyi
past continuous + past Continuous
While my mother was cooking, I was
setting our table.
(Ketika ibu saya sedang memasak, saya menata
meja makan.) dua aksi berlangsung pada
waktu yang sama di masa lampau
8. Past continuous: Penggunaan past continuous yang paling umum adalah
untuk membahas suatu peristiwa yang terjadi pada suatu titik tertentu di
masa lalu.
Kita seringkali menggunakan past continuous dan past simple secara bersamaan. Ketika hal ini terjadi,
maka past continuous menggambarkan suatu situasi ‘latar belakang’ berdurasi lebih lama, dan past
simple menggambarkan suatu tindakan atau peristiwa. Seringkali, ‘tindakan’ yang digambarkan oleh past
simple mengganggu jalannya ‘situasi’ yang digambarkan oleh past continuous.
Perhatikan: past continuous menggambarkan ‘situasi’ yang berlangsung untuk beberapa lama – ‘skiing’dan ‘playing’
sedangkan past simple menggambarkan ‘aksi’ yang terjadi dengan cepat – ‘broke’ dan ‘rang’.
Contoh:
1. I was watching TV when she called.
2. Jack was studying while Dave was cooking
