Past Tense and Past
Continuous Verbs
Kristi Reyes
Level 6 ESL
Simple Past Tense
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Actions, events, states that started and
finished in the past (…ago, last …,
yesterday… )
Regular verbs: -ed
Irregular verbs: change spelling,
memorize
Tell your partner – use past
tense verbs!
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What did you do yesterday?
What did you do last Saturday night?
Where were you last Sunday morning?
What did you do to celebrate your last birthday?
When did you move to the U.S.?
When did you learn to drive?
Why did you start taking classes at MiraCosta
College?
• How did you learn to speak English so well?
Past Continuous: Three Uses
• Use 1:
Past actions that were in progress at a particular time in
the past; actions that were not yet finished at a past time
Pablo’s Schedule
8 – 9: had breakfast
9 – 10: finished his
homework
10 – 11: read the
newspaper
11 – 12: ate lunch
12 – 2: watched soccer
match on TV
2 – 5: took a nap
Tell a classmate – use past
continuous verbs: I was _______ing
• Where were you last Thursday at 8 p.m.? What
were you doing?
• What were you doing Friday at 5 p.m.? Where
were you? Who were you with?
• What were you doing Sunday morning at 7
a.m.?
• What were you doing last night at this time?
• What were you doing last week at this time?
• What were you doing last year at this time?
Past Continuous, continued
• Use 2: Two (or more) actions that were in
progress in the past at the same time
• Use while
• Examples:
Sorry, I wasn’t listening to you while you were
talking.
While I was reading, he was writing.
Past Continuous, continued
• Use 3: Describe and set the scene; tell
what was happening or in progress when
something else happened or interrupted a
past in-progress action
• Examples:
Car accident
Broken bone
A Crime
Form: Using past and past
continuous together
• Use past continuous
to say what was in
progress
I was crossing the
street …
• Use simple past for
the interrupting
action
when the driver ran the
red light.
Other examples:
I was sleeping when the telephone rang
and woke me up.
He was driving too fast when he crashed
the car.
More Examples:
We were watching the news when the
announcer made a special live report.
I was trying to study when you called.
Student examples:
Practice:
Do you have a good memory?
Are you a good witness?
• Directions: Look at the following picture
for one minute. Try to remember as many
details as you can, but don’t write
anything.
Only one minute…
• Ready, go ….
One minute…
What do you remember?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
How many people were there?
Where were the people?
What was hanging from the ceiling?
What was the bank robber holding?
What was the bank robber wearing?
What color was his hair?
What was covering the bank robber’s face?
Was the bank robber right-handed or left-handed?
What was the bank manager doing?
What was the bank teller doing?
Who was walking into the bank?
What time was it?
What was under the bank manager’s desk?
Form of Past Continuous
Subject + was / were + verb+ing
Negation:
Subject + was / were + not + verb+ing
Yes/ No Question:
Was / Were + subject + + verb+ing ?
Information Question:
(WH) + Was / Were + subject + + verb+ing ?
Remember –ing spelling rules?
Verb ending in...
(Most verbs)
1 vowel + 1 consonant
1 vowel + 1 consonant + E
Final –ie
How to make the -ING form
Add -ING
Double the consonant, then add -ING
Examples
say - saying
go - going
walk - walking
swim - swimming
hit - hitting
get - getting
Remove E, then add –ING
come - coming
lose - losing
live – living
Change –ie to y, then add -ING
die – dying
tie -- tying
A little practice
1. I (make) ____________________ a deposit at my bank when a man in
a mask (pull) ____________________ out a gun and started to rob the
bank.
2. I (drive) ____________________ to work when I (see)
____________________ my neighbor’s door open and someone in the
house.
3. They (walk) on the sidewalk when a car (hit) ____________________
the person closest to the road.
4. She (talk) ____________________ to a friend at the mall when a man
(come) ____________________ up behind her and (grab)
____________________ her purse.
5. I (watch) ____________________ TV when I (hear) shouting and
gunshots next door.
6. I (work) ____________________ in the garden and my son (find)
____________________ some matches and (start)
____________________ a fire in the living room.
Review
• Simple past = action or state finished in
the past (yesterday, last…, … ago, etc.)
• Past continuous = was/were + verb+ing,
an action that was in progress/not finished
when another action happened
(interrupted)
Writing: Which is correct?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
I (sleep) well last night.
I (sleep) when the first started.
When I got up this morning, it (rain).
It (rain) hard last night.
Susie fell when she (play) in the park.
We (have) dinner when you called.
I (write) an email when you called me.
He (paint) the walls yesterday.
She (drive) to Los Angeles in her new car.
Final Tips …
• Use while for two actions in progress at
the same time in the past:
She was talking while he was driving.
• Use when when telling about sequence of
events (one action that was in progress
that was interrupted by another event in
the past):
I was just leaving when you called.
(first action in progress)
(interrupting event)
Punctuation
with When and While
• When and while at the front of a sentence, use
a comma:
When you called, I was watching TV.
While he was washing the clothes, I was doing the
dishes.
• When and while in the middle of a sentence, no
comma
I was watching TV when you called.
I was doing the dishes while he was washing the
clothes.
Questions?
• Practice on textbook pages 42 - 43
• For more practice:
Forming and Using the Past Continuous
Quiz Yourself