The document explains the past continuous tense in English, providing examples of positive, negative, and question forms. It highlights its use to describe actions that were ongoing in the past, with a structure involving a past tense form of 'be' combined with the 'ing' form of a verb. Additional examples illustrate this grammatical concept in context.

1. P ast C ontinuous

2. E xamples P ositive F orm: I was waiting for the bus. We were working on the project. He was playing the guitar.

3. Examples N egative F orm: I was not waiting for the bus. We were not working on the project. He was not playing the guitar.

4. Examples Q uestions: Were you waiting for the bus? Were they working on the project? Was he playing the guitar?

5. U se W e use the past continuous to say that an action was going on in the past. I was dreaming because I wasn’t really in New York. (The dreaming went on for a period in the past.) It was raining at three o’clock. (This means that at three o’clock we were in the middle of a period of rain.)

6. F orm P ositive F orms: In the past continuous we use a past tense of be + ing-form of a verb. I was washing the dishes. They were watching the news last Friday.

7. F orm N egative F orms: In the past continuous we use a past tense of be + not + ing-form of a verb. I was not washing the dishes. They were not watching the news last Friday.

8. F orm Q uestions: In the past continuous we use a past tense of be + ing-form of a verb. Were you washing the dishes? Was Jim watching the news last Friday? Note: Compared to a positive sentence the subject and to be have switched places.

9. Q uestions? For more slide presentations visit: