Past Continuous

• Past continuous

  • Structure: was / were + -ing
  • Used when an action in progress at a certain time in the past
  • An action that went on for some time in the past
  • A longer action when something happened (Short)
• Past continuous actions happened in the past and ended in the past
• Past continuous


  • I was flying my kite when I saw the UTO
• When / while

  1. When (short), (Long)

  2. While (long), (Short)

  3. While (long), clong)/(long) while (long)
• When


  • When Nancy Saw Peter, he was running in the park
• While


  • While Jane was reading, her dog barked suddenly
  • While Betty was talking pictures,her parents were talking to the tour guide
  • Betty was taking pictures while her parents were talking to the guide
• Put a comma after the first action if - white/-When is in the front of the sentence
• We don't use past continuous when the action happened after another, we use simple past in this situation