Lesson 103 👩‍🏫 Basic English with Jennifer - Using the Past Progressive

Hi everyone. I'm Jennifer from English with Jennifer. These are my students,

Flavia and Andreia. We study basic English together. Well, right now we spend a lot

of time at home because there's a pandemic, the corona virus pandemic. But

we studied a lot before the coronavirus came to the U.S., so we have a lot of

lessons to share with you. In this lesson, we can practice talking about the past. Listen.

How are you, Andreia? Hi. I'm good. And you? I'm pretty good. How are you doing? Good. And you? All right. All right.

This is a new place. Yeah. Do you like it? Yes. I like it. You have lost of space.

It's pretty, and I see trees outside your window. Yeah. It seems quiet.

Mm-hmm. Yes. Do you like your neighbors? Yes. They're nice neighbors?

That's good. They're not noisy? No. No problems. That's good. Well, um, it's a new month what month is it?

September. September. What was last month? August. August, so in August we did different

things. I think he went somewhere. Yes. You took a trip. So, Flavia I went on a trip.

Let's ask her for information. We'll ask her to tell us. Where did you go? I went to Orlando, Florida.

How long was your trip? Eight days. Eight days! And about money? What's the question?

Was it expensive? Yes. What was expensive? The hotels? The food? The food is very expensive in the parks.

Parks. How many parks? How many parks were there? Eight. Eight parks.

So, she went to Orlando. We know Orlando, Florida has many parks, so one question

could be, "How many parks did you...go?" ...did you go to? ...did you visit? ...did you see?

How many parks did you visit? How many parks did you see? Let's ask that again.

How many parks did you visit? I saw eight parks. That's a lot. So, every day you saw a new park. Ah, so let's talk

about best or favorite. Which park was your favorite? Universal Studios. Universal Studios.

Oh. I've never been there. Yeah. Was it exciting? Yes. Was it crowded?

Were there lots of people? Yes. When it's crowded, what do you see? When there are

many people, what do we call those? Do you know? Oh! When one person stands...yes.

Lines. Lines. So, the question could be... I asked, "Was it crowded?" That's a

common question. Where did you go? Was it crowded? Were there many people?

Crowded with lots of people. Was it crowded? When someone tells me they go to

a park, I ask about the lines. Were the lines long? Not much. Not too long. Ah, 30 minutes.

Ah, yeah. Not too bad, but... Okay. Did you

have fun on your trip? Yes. That was good. Did you take lots of pictures? Mm-hmm. Good.

I've never been to eight parks. That's a lot of parks. Eight parts in eight days. That's amazing. Who went with you?

My husband. And what about your dog? Lila was with Andreia. That's a good friend. What do we call that?

So, what did you do?

What did you do if Lila was with you? What do we...how do we describe that?

What did Andreia do? I watched the dog. I took care of the dog.

Um. I dog sat. Sat? Sat, like we have babysitters, and you can babysit.

You can also be a cat sitter, a dog sitter, so you were...you dog sat.

Oh. Yeah, usually we talk about babysitting. Someone watches the baby. They take care

of the baby. Well, Lila is like a baby, so you dog sat. That's nice!

Flavia's trip was in the past. It's over.

It's finished. That's why we use the simple past to talk about it. She took a

trip. She went with her husband. They had fun. They visited eight different parks.

All these actions are finished actions. Now, listen. I rode a horse. I was riding

a horse. Are these verbs the same? Are they different? How are they different?

Look at this old video. What's correct? In the video, I rode a horse. In the video, I

was riding a horse. We'll soon learn the answer. Flavia, Andreia, and I are going

to practice the past progressive. I want to show you one of my photos because in

August I went to different places. with my children, and one day we went to

a park. And this is at Canobie Lake Park. Do you know this kind of ride? Do you

know how the horses go up and down? And what do you hear? Oh. They play music they

And the horses go in a circle. And you go up and down.

Yeah. It's called a merry-go-round.

Merry-go-round. My my son took this picture, so when he took this picture,

I was riding this horse. I was riding on the merry-go-round. My daughter was

also standing, and she was watching. She didn't want to go on because she doesn't like circles.

I like circles. I like the music, so she watched and I was riding, and my son took a picture while I was riding

and smiling. I was listening to the music. I was having fun. Okay. All right. So, that's one place we

went to, and then we went to another place also in New Hampshire. Let me show

you this funny one. My daughter took this photo. Where am I sitting?

What is this? A chair. A big chair. A really big chair, so in this photo I was sitting

on a big chair, and um, it was funny it's hard to get up. It's hard to get out, so

I was laughing because it was very difficult to get on the chair. My children

were being silly. Okay. Then we went into caves. Caves. One cave. Many caves.

You go inside, and it's cold, and it's dark.

But it's fun. So, I took a picture while they were

climbing down. They were climbing down. And they took pictures of me, too. Here I

was climbing out of a cave. I was climbing out of a cave, and my daughter

took that photo, and I was climbing out of the cave. Yeah. Do you think this would

be fun? Or no? I think it would. It's fun. I enjoy it. Some people say, "No." They don't like going in a cave where

it's deep, and it's dark I think it's beautiful

and quiet and peaceful, but some people say, "No." So, you see how we can talk

about what was happening. My daughter took a photo at that moment. What was I

doing at that moment? I was climbing. I was climbing out of the cave, so she took

it, and at that moment, I was climbing. I wasn't done yet. I was continuing to

climb and climb, and I got out. So, we use the past progressive (was riding, was climbing)

to show something happening. This action that was not finished, and we can use

that also with the simple past to show the difference between what happened at

a single moment. It was finished. He took the photo, and then an action that was

not finished. I was riding. I was laughing. I was climbing, and that's what

we can practice. Just like we had the present progressive, now we have the past

progressive, so we use WAS or WERE, and then we use the -ing.

Okay. So, my children I went climbing. I could say, "I was climbing. You were

climbing."...She...she was climbing. He...was climbing. And if we took the dogs and the cats, we could

say, "The cat...it..." It was climbing. Together we were climbing. And they -- all the

cats and dogs and children -- they...they were climbing. So, we use WAS/WERE and -ing.

Okay. And the same forms. You usually just add -ing, but again you follow the

spelling rules. Sometimes you have to double a consonant, for example, like

while she was having fun in Orlando, you were having fun

because you were dog sitting. That's a double T. Dog sitting. Say, "I was dog sitting the

whole time." Right? I was dog sitting. Okay. I'm going to show some more photos, and you can

tell me about what you see. What was I doing in each photo? Let's see if I can

find something. It was the Fourth of July, so what was I wearing and what was

I holding?

You were holding a flag?

A flag. I was holding a flag, and what was I wearing? You was...you were using t-shirt.

You could say "using." Better to say "wearing." You were wearing...you were

wearing...mm-hmm...a t-shirt. And what did my t-shirt have? Same thing. A flag?

A flat. The American flag. Yeah. I was standing in our garden, so I had flowers.

it was July. Now we have no flowers. Then we had flowers, and I was holding a flag,

and I was wearing a t-shirt with the American flag, and I also had something

on my head. Uh-huh. You were wearing a hat. Because...what was the sun doing? What does the sun do?

The sun was shining. Shining. Right. That's why we wear sunglasses, too. When the sun

shines very brightly, we need to protect our eyes with sunglasses or a hat. So, you

were wearing a hat. The sun was shining, and you were wearing a hat. I was

standing in the garden, I was holding the flag, and I was wearing the flag because it

was the Fourth of July. Okay. This is also at Canobie Lake. Maybe two

summers ago. And I remember my son took this photo. Do you know what these are

called? It's like a ring, but we call it a hoop. And then we say "hula hoop."

What do you say in Portuguese? Bambolê. Yeah. We say "hula hoop." You can use a

hula hoop. Use a hula hoop. Or I guess you can play with the hula hoop Let's say "use." My son took

this photo, so when my son took the photo, what was I doing?

You were using the hula hoop. Bambolê.

Bambolê. Yes, I was using a hula hoop.

So, the past progressive uses a helping verb, was or were, and then the main verb

is in the -ing form. It's a present participle In the video, I

was riding a horse. I was riding a merry-go-round. We form the negative

with "not." "Was not" becomes "wasn't." "Were not" can become "weren't." My daughter wasn't

riding. How do we form questions in the past progressive? Remember that questions

use the word order verb + subject. Listen as Flavia,

Andreia, and I practice. I'll say a statement, and you change it to a question, a

yes-no question, so if I say, "My son was playing hockey," you'll change it to, "Was

your son playing hockey?" Okay. I was drinking hot tea.

I was drinking hot tea. Was you...I...So, you're talking to me. Switch it to "you." Were you drinking...I forget...hot tea?

One more time. I was drinking hot tea. Were you drinking hot tea? Yes, I was. Okay. My daughter was playing the piano.

Was daughter playing...?

Was daughter playing the piano? Good. We need to say, "Was your daughter...?"

Was your daughter playing the piano? Yes, she was.

When you say "daughter," make sure you have the /ɚ/. Daughter.

Daughter. Was your daughter...? Daughter. Daughter. Was your daughter playing the piano?

Was your daughter playing piano? Yeah. Play piano or playing the piano? Yes, she was.

Mm-hmm. My husband was cutting the grass. You know, taking the machine and cutting the grass.

My husband was cutting the grass.

Husband...he. Was your husband cutting the grass?

Grass. Yes, he was. He was cutting the grass. We were having a picnic.

We were having a picnic. would speak to you you were you had a Vicki

Were you...were you...I forgot...having...a picnic.

Yes, we were. We were having a picnic. Were you having a picnic? Yes, we were.

My brothers were visiting. My brothers were visiting. Were brothers...My brothers were visiting.

Were brothers visiting you? That's fine. But again, we need to say whose brothers. Were your brothers...?

Were your brothers visiting? Yes, yes. You could say, "Were your brothers

visiting? Were your brothers visiting you?" Yes, they were. Last one. I was baking a

cake. Was...? Talk to me. I was baking a cake. Again? I was baking a cake. Baking. Uh-huh.

You can make a cake. You can bake a cake. Bake a cake. Was you...?

What do we say with "you"? Was or were? Were you baking a cake? Yes, I was. Baking.

Baking. Baking a cake. Good. Okay. Tell me...maybe yesterday around...maybe...I

don't know...nine o'clock in the morning, what were you doing? Around nine o'clock,

where were you? What were you doing? I was waking up. Oh, at nine o'clock? Nice! Nine o'clock? I was up.

I woke up at 5:45.

Around nine o'clock yesterday, she was waking up. And there's a difference. If

you say, "I woke up at nine o'clock," then it's a finished action. You know, you hear

the alarm. "I'm up!" But some people take a long time. I need

10 minutes, 15 minutes. My alarm goes off at 5:45, and then I need like 10 minutes, so if

you ask me around 6 o'clock, I'm waking up. I"m moving. So, around 9 o'clock yesterday, you were

waking up. How about, um, this morning around 9:30, what were you doing? This

morning? This morning. Around 9:30, what were you doing? I was making...taking...I was making...

A test? Yes. Do you make a test or take a test? Take a test. So, I was taking a test.

I was taking a test. Yes. Good. So, you were working hard. You were thinking. Okay. So, we had

our yes-no questions. Let's talk about our questions for information. Right? All

of these questions begin with question words: what, when, why, how. Right? So, if I give you

a sentence...oops. My son was playing hockey. We can get a lot of information

from that question. Let's start with a question about my son. The question word

is WHO, so the question, the full question is, "Who was playing hockey?" My son. My son was playing hockey.

Let's change that to WHAT. What was playing? What was your son playing? Yes, because we need the subject.

What was your son playing? He was playing hockey. You might ask a question about

the place. Where was your son playing hockey? Where was your son playing hockey? At an

ice rink. At an ice rink. A place with ice. At an ice rink. Okay. We're gonna give a

long sentence, so we can make a few different questions. Sarah was baking a

chocolate cake for a dinner party. First question. Let's make a question

about Sarah. This one should be easy. What...? Let's

focus on Sarah first. What question do we ask about people? Who? Okay. So, what's our

first question? Who was...who was baking a chocolate cake for a dinner party? Yeah.

Who was baking a chocolate cake? Sarah was baking. Okay. Now let's forget

about Sarah for a moment, and we're going to focus on the cake. If the cake is

the answer, we'll make a question with "what." What was Sarah baking? What was Sarah baking?

She was baking a chocolate cake. Okay. This explains the reason. When we talk about reasons, we

make questions with "why." Why was Sarah baking a chocolate cake?

Very good. She's baking it for a dinner party. Very nice.

Can you form some questions in the past progressive? Put the words in the correct order.

What were you wearing? I was wearing an evening dress. It was a special event.

Why were you standing there? I was standing in the middle of the fountain

because I wanted to take a photo. This was at a park in Atlanta, Georgia.

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