微课：past-continouous-tense.pptVIP

张少飞 威县第二中学 Past Continuous Tense Past Continuous Tense The past continuous (also called past progressive) is a verb tense which is used to show that an ongoing past action was happening at a specific moment of interruption, or that two ongoing actions were happening at the same time. Past Continuous Forms The past continuous is formed using was/were + present participle. Questions are indicated by inverting the subject and was/were. Negatives are made with not. Past Continuous Uses USE 1 Interrupted Action in the Past Use the past continuous to indicate that a longer action in the past was interrupted. The interruption is usually a shorter action in the simple past. Remember this can be a real interruption or just an interruption in time. USE 2 Specific Time as an Interruption In USE 1, described above, the past continuous is interrupted by a shorter action in the simple past. However, you can also use a specific time as an interruption. Examples: Last night at 6 PM, I was eating dinner. At midnight, we were still driving through the desert. Yesterday at this time, I was sitting at my desk at work. USE 3 Parallel Actions When you use the past continuous with two actions in the same sentence, it expresses the idea that both actions were happening at the same time. The actions are parallel. Examples: I was studying while he was making dinner. While Ellen was reading, Tim was watching television. Were you listening while he was talking? I wasnt paying attention while I was writing the letter, so I made several mistakes. What were you doing while you were waiting? Thomas wasnt working, and I wasnt working either. They were eating dinner, discussing their plans, and having a good time. USE 4 Atmosphere In English, we often use a series of parallel actions to describe the atmosphere at a particular time in the past. Example: When I walked into the office, several people were busily typing, some were talking on the phones, the boss was yelling directions, and customers we