Clovelly Cornwall

Form

Past tense of the auxiliary verb be (was/were) + the present participle (verb+‘ing’)

Affirmative: (subject + was/were + verb+ing)

Negative: (subject + was/were + not + verb+ing)

Question: (was/were + subject + verb+ing)

Usage

For interrupted past actions. While I was having a bath, the phone rang.

Used without a time expression, it can indicate gradual development that took place in the past.

It was getting darker.

The winds were rising.

It can express an action, which began before that time and probably continued after it.

-At eight he was having breakfast implies that he was in the middle of

breakfast at eight, i.e. that he had started it before eight. He had breakfast at eight would imply that he started at eight.

We use the continuous tense in descriptions. Note the combination of

description (past continuous) with narrative (past simple). When I woke up, the sun was shining and the birds were singing.

Note that the past continuous almost always requires some form of time reference. For example, I was playing tennis simply doesn’t make sense, as we don’t know when. One of the few occasions when it is possible to use the past continuous without a specific time reference is with the gradual development usage, as detailed above.

Typical student errors/mistakes

Omission of the verb to be

Omission of the -ing

Use of -ing with state verbs (see present continuous)

Confusion with past simple