English Grammar: Simple Past Vs Past continuous

1. Simple Past Tense vs
Past Continuous

2. Form of Past Continuous
Subject + was / were + verb+ing
Negation:
Subject + was / were + not + verb+ing
Information Question:
(WH) + Was / Were + subject + + verb+ing ?

3. Remember –ing spelling rules?
Verb ending in... How to make the -ING form Examples
(Most verbs) Add -ING
say – saying
go – going
walk - walking
1 vowel +
1 consonant
Double the consonant, then
add -ING
swim – swimming
hit – hitting
get – getting
1 vowel +
1 consonant + E
Final –ie
Remove E, then add –ING
Change –ie to y,
then add –ING
come – coming
lose – losing
live – living
die – dying
tie – tying

4. Simple Past Tense
• Actions, events, states that started
and finished in the past
(…ago, last …, yesterday… )
• Regular verbs: -ed
• Irregular verbs: change spelling,
memorize

5. Tell your partner – use past
tense verbs!
• What did you do yesterday?
• What did you do Friday night?
• Where were you Saturday morning?
• What did you do to celebrate your last
birthday?

6. Past Continuous: Three Uses
• Use 1:
Past actions that were in progress at a particular time in the past;
actions that were not yet finished at a past time
Erika’s Schedule
8 – 9: had breakfast
9 – 10: finished her
homework
10 – 11: exercised
11 – 12: cooked lunch
12 – 2: shopped
2 – 5: talked to a
friend on the
phone
At 8:30, Erika _________________
breakfast.
At 9:15, she ___________________ her
homework.
At 10:50, she _____________________.
At 11:30, she ___________________.
At 1, she ____________________ lunch.
At 3, she ______________ to a friend.

7. Past Continuous, continued
• Use 2:
• Two (or more) actions that were in progress in the
past at the same time (simultaneous actions)
• Use while
• Examples:
Sorry, I wasn’t listening to you while you were talking.
While I was reading, he was writing.

8. Past Continuous, continued
• Use 3: Describe and set the scene;
tell what was happening or was
in progress when something
else happened or interrupted a
past in-progress action

9. Using past and past continuous
together
• Use past continuous
to say what was
in progress I was crossing
the street …
• Use simple past when the driver
for the interrupting ran the red light.
action

10. Other examples:
I was sleeping when the telephone rang
and woke me up.
He was driving too fast when he crashed
the car.

11. Tell a classmate –
use past continuous verbs:
I was _______ing
• Where were you last Thursday at 8 p.m.?
What were you doing?
• What were you doing Friday at 5 p.m.?
Where were you?
Who were you with?
• What were you doing Sunday morning at 7a.m.?
• What were you doing yesterday at this time?
• What were you doing last week at this time?
• What were you doing last year at this time?

12. Practice:
Do you have a good memory?
Are you a good witness?
• Directions: Look at the following picture
for one minute. Try to remember as many
details as you can, but don’t write
anything.

13. Only one minute…
• Ready, go ….

14. One minute…

15. What do you remember?
1. How many people were there?
2. Where were the people?
3. What was hanging from the ceiling?
4. What was the bank robber holding?
5. What was the bank robber wearing?
6. What color was his hair?
7. What was covering the bank robber’s face?
8. Was the bank robber right-handed or left-handed?
9. What was the bank manager doing?
10. What was the bank teller doing?
11. Who was walking into the bank?
12. What time was it?

16. A little practice
1. The telephone ____________ (ring) when I ____________________
(take a shower).
2. I ____________ (eat) dinner when you __________________ (come)
to visit.
3. It ____________ (begin) to rain while they _____________________
(walk) home.
4. We ____________ (see) an accident when we __________________
(drive) on the freeway.
5. The driver ___________________ (not pay) attention to the cars in
front when he ____________________ (crash) into the red
convertible.

17. 6. She __________________(chop) onions when she
_____________________ (cut) her finger.
7. They _____________________(watch) TV when the
electricity _____________________ (go) out.
8. A: What _____________________(you, do) yesterday
at 5:00? I tried to call you but no one answered.
B: I didn’t hear the telephone. I __________________
(vacuum).

18. Final Tips …
• Use while for two actions in progress at
the same time in the past:
She was talking while he was driving.
• Use when when telling about sequence of
events (one action that was in progress
that was interrupted by another event in
the past):
I was just leaving when you called.
(first action in progress) (interrupting event)

19. Punctuation
with When and While
• When and while at the front of a sentence, use
a comma:
When you called, I was watching TV.
While he was washing the clothes, I was doing the
dishes.
• When and while in the middle of a sentence, no
comma
I was watching TV when you called.
I was doing the dishes while he was washing the
clothes.