The document provides information and examples about using the past continuous tense in English. It explains that the past continuous describes an action that was ongoing or in progress at a specific time in the past. It gives examples of using time expressions like "while" and "when" with the past continuous. It also contrasts the past continuous with the past simple tense. The end of the document includes a practice activity asking the reader to recall details from a picture they viewed for one minute without writing anything down.

1. Past Continuous

2. Past continuous tense The farmer was working at 6 o’clock yesterday evening

3. I was play ing You We They were He She It was

4. Past continuous tense I n t e r r o g a t i v e N e g a t i v e was I play ing ? were you we they was he she it I Was not Wasn’t play ing You We They were not weren’t He She It was not wasn’t

5. Uses of the past continuous We use the past continuous tense to describe a past action over a period of time What were they doing yesterday at 8 o’clock? They were working all day.

6. This time yesterday the hairdresser was working We use the past continuous to say that somebody was in the middle of doing something at a certain time.

7. P ast simple and past continuous are used together when something happened in the middle of something else The policeman broke his ankle while he was running after the dog

8. The past simple and the past continuous do not mean exactly the same. Compare: When Mary arrived, we were having dinner. This means that we already started dinner before Mary arrived. When Mary arrived, we had dinner. This means that Mary arrived first and then we had dinner.

9. Time expressions: While, as, when. While the band was playing a mobile phone rang.

10. What were Mike and Louise doing yesterday?

11. When the teacher arrived at school…

15. 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.

16. Only one minute… Ready, go ….

17. One minute…

18. What do you remember? How many people were there? Where were the people? What was hanging from the ceiling? What was the bank robber holding? What was the bank robber wearing? What color was his hair? What was covering the bank robber’s face? Was the bank robber right-handed or left-handed? What was the bank manager doing? What was the bank teller doing? Who was walking into the bank? What time was it? What was under the bank manager’s desk?