ملخص الدرس / الثالثة ثانوي/اللغة الإنجليزية/All tenses/Past Continuous

The past continuous (past progressive)describes actions or events in a time before now, which began in the past and were still going on when another event occurred.

   Form:

The past continuous of any verb is composed of two parts : the past tense of the verb "to be" (was/were), and the base of the main verb +ing.

 Rule:

Subject + was/were + stem + ing

When do we use the past continuous?

• To describe the background in a story written in the past tense.

e.g. “The sun was shining and the birds were singing as the elephant came out of the jungle. She was looking for her baby, and she didn’t notice the hunter who was watching her. When the shot rang out, she was running towards the river...”

• To describe an unfinished action that was interrupted by another event or action.

e.g. I was having lunch when the bell door rang.”

• To express a change of mind.

e.g. I was going to spend the day out with my friends but I’ve decided to get my homework done instead.”

• With wonder, to make a very polite request.

e.g. I was wondering if you could baby-sit for me tonight.

Negative:

Subject + was/were + not + stem + ing

e.g. she was not reading.

Interrogative :

e.g. Was she reading ?

Interrogative negative

e.g. Wasn’tshe reading