Past Continuous
FORM
AFFIRMATIVE
I was doing
You were doing
He/she/it was doing
We were doing
You were doing (plural)
They were doing
NEGATIVE
I was not doing
You were not doing
He/she/it was not doing
We were not doing
You were not doing
They were not doing
QUESTION
Was I doing?
Were you doing?
Was he/she/it doing?
Were we doing?
Were you doing?
Were they doing?
FUNCTIONS AND EXAMPLES
We use the past continuous:
1 to say that an action was in progress at a particular time in the past. The action had already started at this time, but had not finished
I was having dinner at 6pm last night
What were you doing at midnight last night?
2 to say that an action was in progress at every moment during a period of time
You were working all day yesterday, weren't you?
I was playing football all day yesterday
3 together with the past simple. The past continuous refers to a "longer" or "background" action that was in progress; the past simple refers to a shorter action that interrupted the longer action, or happened in the middle of it
He was walking to work when he met John
She was eating when the phone rang
While I was working in the garden, I heard a woman scream
4 to say that an action in the past was temporary
You were working in the Sales Department last month, weren't you?
They were living in Paris for a year.
5 with words such as always to talk about things that happened repeatedly
Grandpa was always telling us funny stories about his life and cracking jokes
IMPORTANT POINTS
We do not normally use some verbs in the past continuous tense, because these verbs are not normally action verbs. These verbs include: believe, belong, depend, hate, know, like, love, mean, need, prefer, realise, suppose, want, understand
They knew each other very well
NOT: They were knowing each other very well.
