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Past Progressive: Ing Ending)

The past progressive tense indicates an ongoing or continuing action in the past. It is formed using "was/were" plus the present participle of the verb (ending in "-ing"). The past progressive can describe actions that were interrupted by other events in the past, habitual actions that are criticized, or background actions that were occurring when something else happened. It emphasizes the ongoing nature of an activity over a period of time in the past, rather than a single completed action.

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19 views

Past Progressive: Ing Ending)

The past progressive tense indicates an ongoing or continuing action in the past. It is formed using "was/were" plus the present participle of the verb (ending in "-ing"). The past progressive can describe actions that were interrupted by other events in the past, habitual actions that are criticized, or background actions that were occurring when something else happened. It emphasizes the ongoing nature of an activity over a period of time in the past, rather than a single completed action.

Uploaded by

Aliff Haiqal
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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PAST PROGRESSIVE

The PAST PROGRESSIVE TENSE indicates continuing action, something that was happening, going on, at some point in the past. This tense is formed with the helping "to be" verb, in the past tense, plus the present participle of the verb (with an ing ending):

I was riding my bike all day yesterday. Joel was being a terrible role model for his younger brother.

The past progressive indicates a limited duration of time and is thus a convenient way to indicate that something took place (in the simple past) while something else was happening:

Carlos lost his watch while he was running.

The past progressive can express incomplete action.

I was sleeping on the couch when Bertie smashed through the door.

(as opposed to the simple past, which suggests a completed action:

I slept on the couch last night.

The past progressive is also used to poke fun at or criticize an action that is sporadic but habitual in nature:

Tashonda was always handing in late papers. My father was always lecturing my brother.

Past continuous
We use the past simple to talk about actions and states which we see as completed in the past. We can use it to talk about a specific point in time. We use the past continuous to talk about past events which went on for a period of time. We use it when we want to emphasize the continuing process of an activity or the period of that activity. (If we just want to talk about the past event as a simple fact, we use the past simple.)

While I was driving home, Peter was trying desperately to contact me. Were you expecting any visitors? Sorry, were you sleeping? I was just making some coffee. I was thinking about him last night. In the 1990s few people were using mobile phones.

We often use it to describe a "background action" when something else happened.


I was walking in the street when I suddenly fell over. She was talking to me on the phone and it suddenly went dead. They were still waiting for the plane when I spoke to them. The company was declining rapidly before he took charge. We were just talking about it before you arrived. I was making a presentation in front of 500 people when the microphone stopped working.

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