Past continuos +

past simple

CAROLINA ALVARADO ESTRELLAELIZABETH CANO AGUILARCARLOS GARCÍA JIMENEZ

USE:

The Past Continuous is often used when one action in progress is interrupted by another action in the past.

We usually use when or while to link these two sentences.

STRUCTURE:

Sentence in Past Continuous Sentence in PAST SIMPLE

I was singing WHEN  my wife came home

+ +

SUBJECTVERB TO BE IN PAST

VERB+ING

VERB IN PAST

WHEN/WHILE SENTENCE IN PAST SENTENCE IN PAST

CONTINUOUS SIMPLE

+ +I was singing  my wife came home

SUBJECTVERB TO BE IN PAST

VERB+ING

VERB IN PAST

I was talking with James when the telephone rang.

While Angelica was playing tennis, the plane crashed .

When Bob was painting windows, it started raining.

Examples:

"event 1". You can see that the man is jogging. This is a continuous action.

Suddenly, another man stops him and asks what time it is. This is "event 2

EXERCISES

1:While we ______(BE SIT)  at the breakfast table, the telephone ____(RING)

While we were sitting at the beakfast table, the telephone rang2:When I phoned my friends, they (PLAY)__________  monopoly

When I phoned my friends, they  were playing monopoly

3:She _________(BE SLEEP) on the couch when he_____(CALL)

She was sleeping on the couch when he called

4: I was________(WATCH) TV when my mom_______(talk)me

I was watching TV when my mom talked me

http://www.englishtenseswithcartoons.com/tenses/past_continuous