Past continuous

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 1,2

Past continuous

Chapter 3 grammar part 2

Goals this lesson

- Being able to see the difference between the past continuous and past simple.

- Being able to make a past continuous sentence in the postive, negative and question forms.

Past continuous use

Used to express:

1. activities in progress in the past.

At seven o'clock I was having breakfast.

2. descriptions of things in the past.

She was wearing a blue sweater.

3. something that got interrupted.

I was having a shower when the phone rang.

4. an incomplete activity.

I was trying to finish that assignment yesterday.

Past continuous form

was / were + verb + ing.

Was: I, she, he, it.

Were: they, you, we

I was learning to speak Chinese.

They were doing the dishes when mom got home. 

Questions and negatives

Was he looking out the window when you saw him?

Were they watching tv when you came home?

She wasn't learning Spanish when she was 15. 

They weren't doing the dishes when mom came back.

Past simple

Something that happened in the past and is finished.

Present simple.

Habits or facts

Past continuous

Incomplete or interrupted

Present continuous

Happening right now

Time expressions

In 2007                        At six o'clock                    On saturday

In the morning         At midnight                       On Monday morning

In the summer         At the weekend               on Januari 18th

Past simple or Past continuous?

I was having a shower yesterday.

1. Past simple
2. Past continuous

Was Andrew playing computer games?

1. Past Continuous
2. Simple Past

We ______
(watch) TV when we ______
(hear) a loud noise.

1. were watching - heared
2. was watching - heared
3. were watching - heard
4. was watching - heard

Last year I _____
(visit) Paris and Rome.

1. was visiting
2. visited
3. were visiting
4. visitted

He ____
(work) in the garden when he _____
(find) the money.

1. were working - finded
2. worked - was finding
3. was finding - works
4. was working - found

We sang that song yesterday.

1. Past Simple
2. Past continuous

Assignment

Describe what you did last weekend using the two tenses from the past we have now learned. You have about three minutes to do so by yourself. 

I can see the difference between the past continuous and past simple.

1. I can do that.
2. I can do that a little bit.
3. I can't do that at all.

I can make a past simple sentence.

1. I can do that.
2. I can do that a little bit.
3. I can't do that at all.

I can make a past continuous sentence.

1. I can do that.
2. I can do that a little bit.
3. I can't do that at all.

Next up.

P. 20 and 21

The time expressions and exercise 5 we will do together. 

The rest you will do on your own.