These are the three main uses of the past continuous:

 

➡ Use 1: Interrupted Action in the Past

Use the past continuous to indicate that a longer action in the past was interrupted.

 

Examples:

- While we were eating lunch outside, it started to rain.

 

- Sorry I didn’t hear my phone ring, I was listening to music when you called.

 

➡ Use 2: Specific Time as an Interruption

In Use 1, the past continuous is interrupted by a shorter action in the simple past. However, you can also use a specific time as an interruption.

 

Examples:

- At midnight, we were still driving through the mountains.

- Last night at 7 p.m. I was eating dinner with my family.

 

➡ Use 3: Parallel Actions

When you use the past continuous with two actions in the same sentence, it expresses the idea that both actions occurred at the same time. The actions are parallel.

 

Examples:

- I was reading while he was making dinner.

- What were you doing while you were waiting?

 

It is important to remember that in the simple past, a specific time is used to show when an

action began or finished. In the past continuous, a specific time only interrupts the action.

 

Words like when and while are often signs that a sentence will have a past continuous component. In sentences with the past simple and the past continuous, we use when and while to specify the timing of events.

When is used before the past simple phrase and while is used before the past continuous phrase. Notice that both sentences below are two different ways to express the same thing:

 

Examples:

- My friend came over while I was cooking dinner.

- I was cooking dinner when my friend came over.

 

Let’s practice!

 

Conjugate the following verbs in the past continuous:

 

1. My brother and sister ____________________ (play) football yesterday at 8 p.m.

 

2. The printer ____________________ (not work) properly yesterday.

 

3. Why _______________ he _______________ (have) lunch at 3pm?

 

4. While I ____________________ (sleep) Abby made a birthday cake.

 

Interested in more English language challenges? Follow our Instagram account @limlessons for daily quizzes and lessons. 

 

We hope this lesson has been helpful for you.

Schedule a lesson today to practice with our native speaker tutors. Use the code LIMLAUNCH to get a 50% discount!