The Past Continuous Tense

The Past continuous tense

The Past Continuous Tense

Affirmative

YouWe They

IHe She It

were

was

playing singing drinking

I was painting red flowers with my paint brushes.

The Past Continuous Tense

negative

YouWe They

were

playing singing drinking

not

IHe She It

was

They were not drawing a chicken with their pencil.

NOT

The Past Continuous Tense

interrogative: YES / NO QUESTIONS

YouWe They

IHe She It

Were

Was

playing ? singing ? drinking ?

VS

Affirmative answers

Negative Answers

• Short answer:

No, I was not / wasn'tNo, he was not / wasn't No, they were not / weren't

• Long answer:

No, I was not / wasn't running... No, he was not / wasn't listening... No, they were not / weren't swimming...

• Short answer:

Yes, I wasYes, she wasYes, we were

• Long answer:

Yes, I was playing... Yes, she was dancing... Yes, we were singing...

The Past Continuous Tense

interrogative: INFORMATION QUESTIONS

When

YouWe They

IHe She It

were

playing singing drinking

What

(complement) ?

was

Why

What was she doing? She was drawing some dogs.

ING Spelling

General rule

In general, we just add -ING to the base form of a verb

eating

eat

going

go

reading

read

Verbs ending in consonant + silent E

Remove the silent E from the base form of the verb and add -ING

dancing

dance

riding

ride

writing

write

Be careful!

Do not remove the E in this cases; just add -ING

being

be

agreeing

agree

seeing

see

Consonant + vowel + consonant

When a verb with one syllable ends in a C + V + C we double the final consonant before adding -ING .

cut

cutting

run

running

stop

stopping

Time expressions

Last week

Last year

This morning

4 Months ago

Yesterday