PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE
Singular number Plural number
First person I was searching We were searching
Second person You were searching You were searching
Third person He was searching They were searching
USES:
Action before & after a specific time.
Example:
Yesterday at noon, I was eating lunch.
Interrupted continuous past action.
Example:
I was watching a movie when she called.
To start a story/ create an atmosphere
Example:
While I was driving to work yesterday.
repeated action (often with “” always?”)
Example:
My last roommate was always leaving dirty dishes in the sink.
Parallel actions
Example:
I was reading while my brother was playing guitar.
To express a state or an action that was continuing at a certain point of time in the past. It had begun before the point and was probably continuing after it. We use adverbials of time.
Example:
We were decorating the house for the birthday party in the morning.
To express an action that was in the progress in the past.
To express an action in progress at some point of time in the past when another event took place.
Example:
She was cooking when the guests arrived.
To describe two or more actions continuing at the same time.
Example:
While I was watching TV., He was sleeping
To indicate frequently repeated action or persistent habit in the past.
Example:
Nitish was constantly complaining about something or the other.
The Past Continuous is used to denote an action going on at some time in the past.
The time of the action may or may not be indicated.
Examples:
We were watching TV all evening.
It was getting darker.
The light went out while I was reading.
When I saw him, he was playing chess.
As in the last two examples above, the Past Continuous and Simple Past are used together
when a new action happened in the middle of a longer action. The Simple Past is used for
the new action.
This tense is also used with always, continually, etc. for persistent habits in the past.
Examples:
He was always grumbling