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Elementary - Past Continuous

Monday, 01 June 2009
He was playing at 11 o'clock. He was playing at 11 o'clock. City image created by Freepik

English grammar lesson on-line for elementary level students - An explanation of the past continuous with printable exercises.

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1) Past continuous is used for actions in process a certain moment in the past.

  • What were you doing at 9.30 yesterday?
  • In 1995 we were living in London.
  • He was playing tennis at 11 o'clock.

Positive and Negative

I
He
She
It		 was (not) going outside.
We
You
They		 were

Question

Where was I
He
She
It		 going?
were we
you
they


2) The construction of a past continuous is similar to the present continuous tense. The verb "be" in the past tense and the -ing form of a verb.

Where are you living? Where were you living in 1999?
She is working. She was working a 11 o'clock last Monday.

 

published in Verbs