The Past Continuous Tense

The Past Continuous Tense

The past continuous tense is used to express:

1. An action that was in progress at a point of time in the past.
2. An action happening in parallel with another action in the past.
3. An action which was happening when another action happened in the past.

Examples:

1. He was sitting there fifteen minutes ago. ○ John was still reading at midnight.
2. They were watching television while I was doing my work. ○ While I was living in Germany, the war was going on.
3. I was eating breakfast when the phone rang. ○ I was driving on the highway when the accident happened.

Other Tenses

• The Simple Present Tense
• The Present Continuous Tense
• The Simple Past Tense
• The Simple Future Tense
• The Future Continuous Tense
• The Present Perfect Tense
• The Present Perfect Continuous Tense
• The Past Perfect Tense
• The Past Perfect Continuous Tense
• The Future Perfect Tense
• The Future Perfect Continuous Tense