The past continuous

  • A2 · Elementary
  • Grammar lesson
  • 60 min

The past continuous: what was happening at a time in the past (At 4 p.m., Nina was swimming), a shorter action in the middle of a longer one (I was doing my homework when the lights went out), and two actions at the same time with while. From the night the power went out in an apartment building to "Where were you when…?"

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was doingwere playingwhen

What's in the lesson

  1. 1Warm-up
  2. 2Reading: the night the lights went outReading comprehension
  3. 3What does it mean?Grammar exercise
  4. 4Find the past continuousGrammar exercise
  5. 5How the past continuous worksGrammar rule
  6. 6At the same timeGrammar exercise
  7. 7Past continuous or past simple?Grammar exercise
  8. 8What were they doing?Grammar exercise
  9. 9Questions for your teacherGrammar exercise
  10. 10Say it naturallySpeaking practice
  11. 11Where were you when…?Speaking practice
  12. 12About youGrammar exercise
  13. 13Wrap-up

Homework

  1. 1Homework: lost in the parkGrammar exercise
  2. 2Homework: find the mistakeGrammar exercise
  3. 3Homework: a small emergencyDiscussion

Two slides from the lesson

Warm-up

A few questions about you before we start.

  1. What do you usually do in the evening after dinner?
  2. Did the power ever go out in your home? What did you do?
  3. Do you like candles? When do you use them?

Grammar rule

How the past continuous works

Form: was / were + -ing

Example
PositiveI was doing my homework. They were playing cards.
NegativeShe wasn't sleeping. We weren't listening.
QuestionWhat were you doing? Was it raining? — Yes, it was. / No, it wasn't.

I, he, she, it → was · you, we, they → were

Spelling: cook → cooking · write → writing · swim → swimming · cut → cutting · study → studying

Three uses

  1. An action in progress at a time in the past: At 4 p.m., Nina was swimming at the pool.
  2. A longer action, with a shorter action in the past simple in the middle of it: I was doing my homework when the lights went out. / While I was doing my homework, the lights went out. (Sometimes the short action stops the longer one, and sometimes it doesn't.)
  3. Two longer actions at the same time: My mom was cooking while my dad was watching the news.

The short actions are often verbs like rang, called, arrived, hit, fell, dropped and went out.

The past simple is for finished actions and for events one after the other: The lights went out. He dropped his eggs. We ate pizza.
Verbs that are not actions (know, want, like, understand) don't usually take -ing: I knew the answer (not I was knowing).

Teach it live with video and a whiteboard, or print it: the PDF has every slide, the homework and the answers.

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