Past Continuous

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The Past continuous describes an action or event in a time before now, which began in the past and was still going on at the time of speaking.

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I was reading. you were reading. he was reading. she was reading. it was eating. we were reading. they were reading.

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I wasn´t reading. you weren´t reading. he wasn´t reading. she wasn´t reading. it wasn´t eating. we weren´t reading. they weren´t reading.

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Was I reading? Were you reading? Was he reading? Was she reading? Was it eating? Were we reading? Were they reading?

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The Past Continuous is used to: - Talk about an action that had already started and was still continuing at a particular time. At 8.00 O´clock I was sleeping.

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It is also used to: -describe an unfinished action that was interrupted by another event or action. I was watching TV when she phoned.

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It is also used to: -describe two actions that were both continuing at the same time in the past. In this case we use past continuous for both actions. While I was reading. Mary was sleeping.

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Notes: -When you talk about things in the past, when is most often followed by the simple past, whereas while is usually followed by past continuous. I was writing an e-mail when my computer went off. -While expresses the idea of “ during that time”. While I was writing an e-mail, my computer went off.