Grammar : The Past Continuous Tense

1. We form past continuous by using was  or were with the-ing form of the verb.

  

	Positive	Negative
Singular	I/She/He/It was working	Was not (wasn’t )working
Plural	We/You/They were working	Were not (weren’t ) working

  
  

Questions	Short answer
Was I/She/he/it working ?	Yes, I/She/He/it was	No, I/She/he/it was not
Were we /you/they working?	Yes,we/you/they were	Yes,we/you/they were not

 2. We use past continuous tense :

• To talk about a specific moment in the past

example :

1. One night, It was raining in the past.
2. Snow White was growing prettier and prettier.

• To talk about an action  which was in the middle of happening when another action happened.

examples :

1. Cinderella and Prince Charming were dancing when  the clock struck 12.
2. When Maurice entered the castle, it was raining very hard.

• Sometime we use when/while with past continuous

examples :

1. When Snow white was sleeping on the small beds, the dwarves came home.
2. The dwarves came home while snow white was sleeping on one of the small beds