Nuffie

Tuesday 25 March 2014

Learning English Grammar : Past Continuous Tense.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

Hi, have you heard about MH370 and they said that they have confirmed that debris that on the Indian Ocean were from MH370.

As for me, I will not believe it until it is really confirmed and confirmed means here that they include the images of those debris. Thank you.

Well, for this entry, I will continue on Past Continuous Tense.

What is Past Continuous Tense?

The Past Continuous tense is used for an action that was going on in the past when something else happened. The past continuous tense is most often used for actions happening at some time in the past.

The past continuous is formed from the past tense of be with the -ing form of the verb:
We use the past continuous to talk about the past:
  • for something which continued before and after another action:
The children were doing their homework when I got home.
Compare:

I got home. The children did their homework.
and
The children did their homework when I got home.

As I was watching television the telephone rang.

This use of the past continuous is very common at the beginning of a story:
The other day I was waiting for a bus when …
Last week as I was driving to work … 
  • for something that happened before and after a particular time:
It was eight o’clock. I was writing a letter.

Compare:

At eight o’clock I wrote some letters.
In July she was working in McDonald’s.
  • .to show that something continued for some time:
My head was aching.
Everyone was shouting.
  • for something that was happening again and again:
I was practising every day, three times a day.
They were meeting secretly after school.
They were always quarrelling.
  • with verbs which show change or growth:
The children were growing up quickly.
Her English was improving.
My hair was going grey.
The town was changing quickly.

Source : English Grammar
Source : ESL

So, how was the explanation? Clear right? Let me tell you are short story.

On Monday, when I was typing on the keyboard, there was a bird chirping outside my window. I was curious and looked outside and while I was searching for the birding, I saw the bird was hurt and I just do not know what happened to it.

Now, I do not want to finish the story because it was not even real, but if you could see there, I was using past continuous tense several times right? So, can you spot the usage of it?

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: Toodles! read a lot!!

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