The Forms of the Past Continuous Tense Affirmative

The Forms of the Past Continuous Tense: Affirmative : Subject + was/were + verb-ing. Negative : Subject + was/were + not +verb-ing. Interrogative : Was/Were + subject + verb-ing?

(A) An event which was in progress around a particular past time: e. g. John was having dinner at 7 yesterday. Mandy was taking a bath at that time last night.

Activity 1: What were they doing yesterday at 11 o’clock? PICTURE A:

PICTURE B:

In Picture B, a man was riding a horse. In Picture B, a woman was walking with a dog. In Picture B, a policeman was talking to a driver. In Picture B, a man was selling newspapers. In Picture B, two boys were fighting.

(B) Two events happening at the same time in the past: e. g While John was eating, his mother was making his bed. While Mary was reading a book, her brother was playing with a toy.

Activity 2: While…, … While the cats were eating fish, my brothers were drinking milk.

While my father was doing the jigsaw puzzles, my mother was working in the office.

While my sister was brushing her teeth, my friends were playing basketball.

Activity 3:

Student A: 11: 30 a. m. -12: 30 p. m. : While I was having lunch, my classmates were drawing pictures. 2: 00 p. m. -4: 00 p. m. : While I was playing cards, my classmates were riding bicycles.

Student B: 10: 00 a. m. -11: 30 p. m. : While I was playing volleyball, my classmates were hiking. 12: 30 a. m. -2: 00 p. m. : While I was having lunch, my classmates were singing.

Revision Exercise: Useful websites and softwares : http: //www. english-athome. com/tenses_and_verbs/past_tenses. html http: //www. englishpage. com/verbpage/ pastcontinuous. html Access to Tense Buster at MMLC: Program/clarity/tense buster intermediate