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Thursday 30 July 2015

PAST CONTINUOUS


                 Rammetto One Regular



Rammetto One Regular

Positive Statements 

S + was / were + action (+ -ing) ...

SingularPlural
1st personI was working ..we were working ..
2nd personyou were working ..you were working ..
3rd personhe/she/it was working ..they were working ..

Negative Statements

S + wasn't / weren't + action (+ -ing) ...
SingularPlural
1st personI wasn't working ..we weren't working ..
2nd personyou weren't working ..you weren't working ..
3rd personhe/she/it wasn't working ..they weren't working ..

Questions

(Wh-) was / were + S + action (+ -ing) ...? 
SingularPlural
1st personwas I working .. ?were we working .. ?
2nd personwere you working .. ?were you working .. ?
3rd personwas he/she/it working .. ?were they working .. ?



Rammetto One Regular



Actions Happening at some time in the Past

     DURATION


When we want to talk about an action that was happening over a period of time in the past, we use the past continuous tense. 

E.g.: 
                                                       
* At this time last week I was lying on the beach in Florida.
* I had my car fixed because it wasn't working properly.
* What were you doing yesterday at 8 o'clock?

 Interrupted Action in the Past

  INTERRUPTED ACTION

The past continuous is very often used with the past simple to say that something happened in the middle of something else. In this case, the single event (past simple) interrupted the longer action (past continuous).

E.g.: 
* What were you doing when the lights went off last night?
* When I went to bed last night the sun was already beginning to rise. 
* It was lucky we weren't sitting under that tree when the lighting hit.

                               Resultado de imagen para a person under a tree when a lightning hit images


 Parallel Actions in the Past

  PARALLEL ACTIONS

We use the Past Continuous to talk about two actions happening at the same time. The actions are parallel. 

E.g.: 

* While she was preparing dinner, he was washing the dishes.
* Were you listening while he was talking?
* He wasn't paying attention while I was explaining.


  When vs While
We use when and while to talk about two actions in the past. 
E.g.  I was sleeping when the teacher finished the lesson.
        I was snoring while the teacher was explaing the lesson.


What´s the difference between when and while?

Rammetto One Regular  we usually use when one of the actions is long and the other is short. When is most often followed by the Simple Past.

E.g.: I was studying when she called.
        When I arrived my father was sleeping on the sofa. 


Rammetto One Regular  We usually use while when we express the idea of an action during that time. We also use while when there are two long actions happening at the same time. While is always followed by the Past Continuos

E.g.: While I was studying, my mother was preparing dinner.
        While I was studying, she called. 

Rammetto One Regular Non-continuous Verbs
Non-continuous verbs are actions that you cannot see somebody doing. These verbs are rarely used in continuous tenses. They include.

Abstract Verbs: be, want, cost, seem, need, care, contain, owe, exist, etc.

Possession Verbs: possess, own, belong...

Emotion Verbs: like, love, hate, dislike, fear, envy, mind...

E.g.:
  • Jane was being at my house when you arrived. Not Correct
  • Jane was at my house when you arrived. Correct


Rammetto One Regular
Adverbs such as always, only, never, still, just, among others are usually placed between was/were and the action with -ing.

E.g.:
  • You were just studying when she callled. 
  • Were you just studying when she called?

Rammetto One Regular


Click on the folling links to practise PAST CONTINUOS:








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