Past Continuous

1 Use

A We use the past continuous to talk about smth which was in progress at a past time. The action or situation had started but it had not finished at that time.

At eight о 'clock last night I was watching TV.'

More examples:

I saw you last night. You were waiting for a bus.

Was Sue working at 10 o'clock yesterday morning?

Compare the uses of the past continuous and past simple:

Past Continuous Past Simple

I was writing a letter. (= I was in the middle of writing it.)

I wrote a letter. (= I started and finished it.)

B We often use the past continuous and past simple together in a sentence. Notice what happens in sentences like these:

Past Continuous Past Simple

I was driving along When Kate was watching TV We were walking in the park

when suddenly a child ran across the road, the telephone rang. when it started to rain.

The past continuous describes a longer action or situation which was in progress at a past time; the past simple describes a shorter action which happened in the middle of the longer action, or interrupted it.

But to say that one thing happened after another, we can use the past simple.

When the telephone rang, Kate answered it.

We sheltered under a tree when it started to rain.

Compare:

When Kate came home Ken was making some tea. (Ken was in the middle of making some tea. Then Kate came home)

When Kate came home, Ken made some tea. (Kate came home. Then Ken made some tea.)

C When we tell a story, we often use the past continuous to describe a background scene and the past simple for events and actions.

Past Continuous Past Simple

I was standing outside the bus station. It was getting late and I was feeling tired. I was waiting for a man called Johnny Mars.

Suddenly, a woman came round the comer and walked right up to me. 'Are you Mr Marlowe?' she asked.

EXERCISE 5A

Join each idea in A with the most suitable idea in B. Make sentences using when and the past

continuous or past simple of the verbs in brackets.

Example: 1 I dropped my bag when I was running for a bus.

A В

1 I (drop) my bag 2 I(cut) myself 3 My car (break down) 4 I (see) a shark 5 My clothes (get) dirty 6 I (break) a tooth

I (drive) to work I (eat) a sandwich I (run) for a bus I (shave) I (swim) in the sea I (clean) the attic

EXERCISE 5B

Put the verbs in brackets into the correct form: the past continuous or the past simple.

Examples: When she came (come) into the room I was listening (listen) to the radio.

When my car broke down (break down) I phoned (phone) a garage.

1 We (go) down in the lift when suddenly it (stop).

2 (they | have) dinner when you (call) to see them?

3 When the doorbell (ring) I (get) up and (answer) it.

4 When I (open) the door, a friend (stand) there.

5 'When I (arrive) back at the car park, my car wasn't there!' 'Oh, no! What (you | do)?' 'I (report) it to the police.'

EXERCISE 5C

These paragraphs begin three stories: a love story, a western and a horror story.

1 Complete the paragraphs using the past continuous or the past simple of the verbs in brackets.

(i) It was midnight and I was alone in the house. Outside it was raining (rain) very hard. I __1 (get) ready to go to bed when I suddenly heard a strange noise outside my room in the corridor. Then, when I looked at the door, I noticed that someone ___2 (turn) the handle! I ___3 (rush) over to the door and quickly __4 (turn) the key in the lock. Then I ___5 (ask) in a trembling voice, 'Who is it?'

(ii) It was early evening and it __1 (begin) to get dark in the surgery of Doctor Nigel Harris. The young, handsome doctor __2 (stand) looking sadly out of the window when there was a quiet knock at the surgery door. The door ___3 (open) and Dr Harris ___4 (turn) round to see the young girl who had just entered the room. She was very beautiful. With a sad smile the doctor __5 (ask), 'Are you the new nurse?'

(iii) I __1 (sit) in the big chair in Henry's barber's shop at the time. Henry ___2 (cut) my hair with his big pair of scissors when we heard the sound of horses outside. The noise was so loud that we __3 (go) over to the window to look. Through the window we could see at least twenty gunmen riding into town. Henry immediately __4 (go) over to his desk and __5 (put) on his gun and Sheriffs badge.

2 Which paragraph begins which story?

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