Teory

Past Continuous (TEORY)

The Past Continuous is a tense describes actions that were beingmade ​​in a time in the past referred to and then continued, for example:

Yesterday He Was studying English. Yesterday he was studyingEnglish.
(He began to study before that time and continued to study later)

John was playing tennis at 10 am John was playing tennis at 10 am
(Began playing tennis before 10 am and continued doing it later)

The Past Continuous is constructed with the auxiliary verb "to be" in its past form and the main verb in the infinitive with the completionING 

Use the past continuous
The past simple is used to:

Actions which started in the past and want to stress that had a certain duration
II was eating an apple, When I fell to the ground
I was eating an apple when I fell

In this prayer is described in the past continuous action of eating the apple was a certain duration but the fall was instant. 

The past continuous structure is:


Subject + be + verb past tense ending-ing (present participle) 

Conjugación	Significado
I was working	yo estaba trabajando
you were working	tú estabas trabajando
he was working	él estaba trabajando
we were working	nosotros estabamos trabajando
you were working	vosotros estabais trabajando
they were working	ellos estaban trabajando

In the past continuous denial is not simply added between the verband the verb to be:
structure:
Subject + verb to be + not + past tense verb in the present 

I was not singingyo no estaba cantando


he did not singingél no estaba cantando 

The question in the simple past
To construct the question simply invert the verb to be and the subject:
Structure of the question:

   past tense verb to be + subject + verb to be conjugated? 

Conjugación	Significado
was I singing?	¿estaba cantando?
were you singing?	¿estabas cantando?
was he singing?	¿estaba cantando?
were we singing?	¿estabamos cantando?
were you singing?	¿estabais cantando?
were they singing?	¿estaban cantando?

If the question had an interrogative particle structure would

+ Interrogative particle to be in the past + subject + verb conjugated

What was you singing?
What were you singing? 

La estructura básica del pasado continuo:

 La estructura básica del afirmativo del pasado continuo: (somebody=alguien; somewhere-algún sitio; something=algo)

	suj	aux	verbo
	I	was	eating	something.	Estaba comiendo algo.
	You	were	talking	to somebody.	Estabas hablando con alguien.
	He	was	listening	to something.	Estaba escuchando algo. (él)

  

La estructura básica del negativo del pasado continuo:

suj	aux		verbo
I	was	not	eating	something.	No estaba comiendo algo.
You	were	not	talking	to somebody.	No estabas hablando con alguien.
He	was	not	listening	to something.	No estaba escuchando algo. (él)

La estructura básica del interrogativo del pasado continuo: (anywhere = alguna o cualquier parte, anybody = cualquiera, alguien, anything = cualquier cosa, algo)

	aux	suj	verbo
	Was	I	eating	something?	¿Estaba comiendo algo?
	Were	you	talking	to somebody?	¿Estabas hablando con alguien?
	Was	he	listening	to something?	¿Estaba escuchando algo? (él)

 La estructura básica de las respuestas cortas del pasado continuo (e iguales que las del verbo "to be"):

	Af.					Neg.
	Yes,	I was.				No,	I wasn't.
	Yes,	you were.				No,	you weren't.
	Yes,	he was.				No,	he wasn't.

FORM

[was/were + present participle]

Use the Past Continuous to indicate that a longer action in the past was interrupted. The interruption is usually a shorter action in the Simple Past. Remember this can be a real interruption or just an interruption in time.

Examples:

·       I was watching TV when she called.

·       When the phone rang, she was writing a letter.

·       While we were having the picnic, it started to rain.

When you use the Past Continuous with two actions in the same sentence, it expresses the idea that both actions were happening at the same time. The actions are parallel.

Examples:

·       I was studying while he was making dinner.

·       While Ellen was reading, Tim was watching television.

·       Were you listening while he was talking?

USE 4 Atmosphere

In English, we often use a series of parallel actions to describe the atmosphere at a particular time in the past.

Example:

·       When I walked into the office, several people were busily typing, some were talking on the phones, the boss was yelling directions, and customers were waiting to be helped. One customer was yelling at a secretary and waving his hands. Others were complaining to each other about the bad service.

USE 5 Repetition and Irritation with "Always"

The Past Continuous with words such as "always" or "constantly" expresses the idea that something irritating or shocking often happened in the past. The concept is very similar to the expression "used to" but with negative emotion. Remember to put the words "always" or "constantly" between "be" and "verb+ing."

Examples:

·       She was always coming to class late.

·       He was constantly talking. He annoyed everyone.

·       I didn't like them because they were always complaining.