Past Continuous Tenses
Look at the example situation below:
Tom was sleeping when I arrived.
Tom went to sleep at 10.00 last night. I arrived at 11.00. He was still asleep. His sleep began before and was in progress at a particular time in the past. It continued after I arrived.
The Past Continuous tense:
The Form:
| was / were + VERB-ING |
- Examples:
- Kate was writing an email to a customer When I arrived.
- I was living in Kuala Lumpur this time last year.
The Usage
The past continuous tense expresses both activities that happened at the same time, one action began earlier and was in progress and other happened .
- Examples:
- Kate was sleeping when the phone rang.
- When I was walking down the street, it began to rain.
Sometimes the past continuous tense is used in both parts of a sentence when two actions are in progress simultaneously.
- While I was studying in one room of our apartment, my roommate was having a party in the other room.
