Past Continuous

The Past Continuous is used to express an action that took place at a specific time in the past. 

I was running away from the dog. I was studying at Queen Mary’s University of London.

It is used to express a longer action that was interrupted by a sharp shorter action, the shorter action is usually used with an expression of time or conjunction  and the past simple combined.

The man was stealing the jewels when the policeman walked past. Two boys were stabbed while the Policeman was twerking.

past-simple-cont-interuption

The Past Continuous is used to talk about simultaneous actions that were happening at the same time a a particular time in the past.

The girl was screaming while the boy was laughing.

past-simple-continuous-parallel

The Past Continuous is used to express a habit or repeated action that happened at a particular time in the past.

Rachel was always crying. Tony was always running away from his brother.


Formulas

( + ) Subject  + was/ were + verb 1 + ing + Object

( – ) Subject  + was/were + not + verb 1 + ing + Object

( ? ) Was/were  + subject + verb 1 + ing + Object

( -? ) Wasn’t/ Weren’t ) + not + verb 1 + ing + Object

(-? ) Was/were + subject + not + verb 1 + ing + Object

Information Questions

( + ) Q/W + Was/were + subject + verb 1 + ing + Object

( – )  Q/W + Wasn’t/ Weren’t ) + not + verb 1 + ing + Object

( – )  Q/W + Was/were + subject + not+  verb 1 + ing + Object