A.Study this example situation:
10 o'clock and finished at 11.30.
So, at 10.30 they were playing tennis.
They were playing = they were in the middle of playing.
They had not finished playing.
Was/were -ing is the past continuous:
| I/he/she/ it was we/you/they were |
playing doing working etc. |
B.I was doing something= I was in the middle of doing something at a certain time. The action or
situation had already started before this time, but had not finished:
¡ This time last year I was living in Brazil.
¡ What were you doing at 10 o'clock last night?
¡ I waved to Helen, but she wasn't looking.
C.Compare the past continuous (I was doing) and past simple (I did):
| Past continuous (in the middle of an action) ¡ I was walking home when I met Dan. (in the middle of walking home) ¡ Kate was watching TV when we arrived. |
Past simple (complete action) ¡ I walked home after the party last night. (=all the way, completely) ¡ Kate watched television a lot when she was ill last year. |
D.We often use the past simple and the past continuous together to say that something happened in the
middle of something else:
¡ Matt phoned while we were having dinner.
¡ It was raining when I got up.
¡ I saw you in the park yesterday. You were sitting on the grass and reading a book.
¡ I hurt my back while I was working in the garden.
But we use the past simple to say that one thing happened after another:
¡ I was walking along the road when I saw Dan. So I stopped, and we had a chat.
Compare:
| ¡ When Karen arrived, we were having dinner. (= we had already started before she arrived) |
¡ When Karen arrived, we had dinner. (= Karen arrived, and then we had dinner) |
E. Some verbs (for example, know and want) are not normally used in the continuous (see Unit 4A):
¡ We were good friends. We knew each other well. (not We were knowing)
¡ I was enjoying the party, but Chris wanted to go home. (not was wanting)
3:20 AM
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