Past Continuous

The Constant Past, it is a verbal time that describes actions that were being realized in a moment of the past to which one refers and which then they continued, for example:

* Yesterday he was studying English. Ayer él estaba estudiando inglés.

* John was playing tennis at 10 a.m. John estuvo jugando tenis a las 10 a.m.

The Constant Past is constructed by the auxiliary verb " to be " in his past form and the principal verb in infinitive by the completion ING:

The constant past is used:

- To speak on an action not finished in a point of the  past I Have was playing football at half past four yesterday.

- To speak about 2 actions - one being longer than other one that interumpe the previous action I was cooking when the doorbell rang.

It is necessary to remember that it is possible to use when + simple past to speak about 2 consecutive actions in the past: I bought my ticket when the train arrived.

When the word is used while (while) normally the constant past is used.

examples: I listened to the news while I was driving.

Important:

There are some verbs that can´t be used in the continuous form in English. Here´s a short list:

• believe
• hear
• see
• sound
• understand
• want
• like

Since the constant past is formed

Constant affirmative past:

Subject + was/were + present participle (verbo+ing)I+ was + reading. (He was reading)

Constant negative past: 

Subject + wasn´t/weren´t + present participle

I wasn´t reading. (He was not reading).

Constant interrogative past : Questions was/were + subject + present participle

Were you reading? (Were you reading?)

      Spelling Tips

• To make the present participle add ‘ing’ : Finish --> finishing
• If the verb ends in one vowel and one consonant you need to double the consonant:
  Stop --> stopping
• If the verb ends in ‘e’ remove the ‘e’ before adding ‘ing’ : Take --> taking

        
      Exercises

• Have a go at this exercise to practise using the past simple and continuous 

1. I ................(read) a magazine when it ................(start) to rain.
2. Some friends ……………..(arrive) while we …………….(watch) television.
3. He …………….(cook) dinner when he ………….. (receive) a text message from his girlfriend.
4. They …………….(play) football when the storm …………….(begin).
5. What ……………………..(you/do) yesterday at 3 pm?
6. ………………(you/study) when I ………………..(ring) you last night?
7. He …………….(can) sleep because the baby …………..(cry).
8. She……………(arrive) as the train was ……………….(leave) the station.
9. The children ………..(listen) while the teacher ………..(explain) the answers.
10. I…………….(listen) to the radio when I…………..(receive) your email.

                                                            Past Continuos And simple