The Past Continuous: How and When to Use It | 6 Practical Examples

If you avoid using some English grammar tenses because you're not really sure

how to use them or why you should,

it can lead to unnecessary grammar mistakes.

It can also make it far more difficult to say exactly what you want to

say in English conversations. In today's Confident English lesson,

we're going to do an in-depth exploration of the past continuous

tense in English, also known as the past progressive.

This means we'll review the past continuous structure so that you use them

accurately and more importantly,

you'll learn six real-life examples of when to

use the past continuous. What that means is by the end of this lesson today,

you'll be a hundred percent ready to confidently answer three questions I

have for you using the past continuous tense in English.

But first, if you don't already know, I'm Annmarie with Speak Confident English.

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Before we look at six specific examples of when to use the past

continuous form,

let's focus on the structure so that you're able to use this tense

accurately. In the positive form,

we have a subject and then the past form of the verb to be was

or were followed by an I N G verb. For example,

I was planning to call you, but I lost track of time.

Then in the negative form, once again, we have a subject.

The past form of the to be verb - was or were - followed by

not and an I N G verb. For example,

she wasn't sleeping when you called.

She was working with her phone on do not disturb.

In addition to making sure the structure is accurate,

it's also important to be careful with your word choice.

We don't use stative verbs in the past continuous

form.

Stative verbs are used to describe a state of mind or a state of

being. These are verbs, such as believe, like, dislike,

hate, love, need, prefer, realize,

seem, understand or want. For example,

we would not say when I was younger I was preferring to

drink coffee that doesn't work in English. Instead, we would say,

when I was younger, I preferred to drink coffee.

Stative verbs imply continuous

or ongoing action,

so the use of the past progressive form,

which can also imply continuous or ongoing action in the past

is unnecessary. With all of that in mind,

let's get into six real-life examples of how and when to use

the past continuous in English.

The first use is to provide background or context when telling

stories. Of course, when you tell a story,

you are referencing the past.

You're talking about something that already happened, something you experienced,

and to help make a story more interesting. You provide context,

in other words,

the background to help set the tone of the story or to create a

mood. Doing all of this creates a mental picture for your listener.

This is when we use the past continuous tense for telling stories.

Let me give you an example.

Imagine you're telling someone about a recent vacation and to

highlight just how relaxing it was from the very first day,

you might share some background details.

What was happening the moment you woke up that first day in telling

your vacation story, you might say, the very first morning I woke up,

the waves were gently rolling up on shore.

The sun was just inching up over the mountains,

warming the sun and the palm leaves were rustling in the breeze.

It was the perfect start to my vacation.

All of those background details are in the past continuous tense and they helped

to provide context. Let's take a look at another example.

Think for a moment about an important historical event you've experienced

and imagine someone asking you, what were you doing when?

What were you doing when you first heard the election results?

In telling that story and providing some background details, you might say,

I was at an election party.

A group of us were chatting and the music was blaring when they first announced

the results, there was so much noise that we didn't hear them right away.

This example leads me to use number two.

We used the past continuous to highlight overlapping events or

interruptions. Let's start by talking about overlapping events.

In other words,

when two things are happening at the same time to show that two

events are overlapping and to indicate which ones started

first, we use the past continuous.

There are two structures we typically use to highlight these overlapping

events.

The first one is to use the past continuous followed by when and the

past simple form.

I was chatting with friends when they announced the results

or we could reverse that when they announced the results.

I was chatting with friends.

In both cases the use of the past continuous highlights,

which of the two events started first.

The second structure we can use is to include a specific

indication of time that highlights something was

happening before and after. For example,

at midnight at 7:00 PM in September

by the age of 12.

Let me give you a few examples of how we might use these indications of time.

Number one, by the age of 12,

I was playing concerts in major cities around the country.

This tells us the statement was true before and after that specific

indication of time. A second example,

by the time I was in my mid thirties,

I was already putting away a significant portion of my paycheck

toward my retirement savings, and number three,

I was cooking dinner at 7:00 PM last night. Again,

this highlights that you were cooking dinner before and after that

period of time, and now let's talk about interruptions.

The past,

continuous shows what was happening when an interruption

occurred. For example,

imagine you missed an important call from a loved one and when they finally

reach you, they want to know what was going on. Why didn't you answer the phone?

In your response, you might say,

I was cooking in the kitchen and the kids were watching TV at full volume.

When you called, I didn't hear the phone. In another example,

perhaps you've had a chaotic morning and in describing

this entire morning to a coworker, you might include this detail.

The kids were sleeping deeply when the alarm rang and jolted

them awake. Before we move on to use three,

I want you to look again at those examples with interruptions and notice

that we're using that same structure we used with overlapping events.

We're using the past, continuous with when and the past simple.

Use number three is to emphasize a length

of time such as all day or all afternoon.

Now, why might it be useful or important to emphasize a length of time?

Let me illustrate with an example.

Imagine you've recently accomplished a major milestone at work.

You and your team have just finished an all-consuming project

and do you want to emphasize how much time you've spent on it,

the past continuous combined with phrases that explain the length of time

help you do this In describing this effort to others, you might say,

we were working on this project nonstop all year.

It's hard to believe it's finished.

In addition to using a phrase such as all year, you could use all day,

all night, all month, all week, all morning,

all afternoon, all evening.

You could also use for hours, for days, for weeks,

for months, for years.

Here's another example many parents might identify with.

Imagine being a new parent and telling a friend just how

difficult it was to get good sleep last night in that conversation,

you might say it was a terrible night.

She was crying all night and we hardly slept.

The fourth use of the past continuous tenses on this list today is to discuss

past habits using words such as always,

and usually now you might be thinking Annemarie,

I thought we used the present simple to talk about habits, and you're right,

we do. If there is a habit I currently have, I would use the present simple.

For example, I always read before bed,

but what if a habit is no longer true?

Perhaps you've broken a bad habit or maybe you grew out of one.

This is where the past continuous is helpful.

It tells us about a past habit that is no longer true.

To do this,

we use the past continuous form combined with adverbs and adverb.

Phrases that describe frequency such as always,

constantly, usually, rarely, all the time,

the entire time. For example,

imagine you're reminiscing about your first year in your current

job. While you reflect on that time, you might say,

during my first year I was constantly making mistakes.

There was so much to learn.

You could also use the past continuous tense combined with an indication of

frequency to describe some annoying past habits.

For example, in describing where you used to live, you might say,

the entire time we lived in that neighborhood,

our neighbors were constantly yelling and partying every other

night. In the end,

we decide to sell the house and move to a more peaceful neighborhood.

Our fifth use of the past continuous form is in making a polite

request using the structure.

I was wondering if in using this highly polite,

indirect way of making a request,

we're using the past continuous form.

We tend to use this structure when we want to be overly polite

because we're worried someone will say no. For example,

if you're asking a friend for a favor and you say,

I was wondering if we could borrow your truck for our move,

or if you're inviting a coworker to your house for the very first time,

you might say,

I was wondering if you're free this weekend we're having a few friends over for

a backyard barbecue. We'd love for you to join us.

You can also use this structure without the word if to ask

indirect questions.

This is useful when you're not sure if a question is appropriate.

For example, I was wondering what you're doing this weekend.

A direct way of asking that question is, what are you doing this weekend?

Another example is we were wondering when you'll have a decision,

A direct way of asking that is simply when will you have a decision? Now,

as I said, this structure can be a very polite,

indirect way of making requests,

but it's important not to overuse it.

This structure of I was wondering if is considered

vague language,

vague language can be difficult to understand and it can make your meaning

less clear.

The last use of the past continuous form on this list today is to indicate

a change of mind.

Have you ever made a plan and then changed your mind at the last minute?

Of course you have. We've all done that.

The past continuous helps to identify what our original plan was

and what we decided in the end. For example,

imagine you made plans to move to another city at some point in

time. In the past,

originally you were thinking of moving to one specific city,

but in the end you changed your mind and decided to move somewhere else.

In talking through that process, you could say,

I was planning to move to Washington DC originally,

but in the end I decided to move to New York. Similarly,

let's say that you're talking to someone about your upcoming plans for a

vacation.

In the process of planning the cost of airline tickets and long

delays at airports changed your original plans,

you might tell your friend,

we were originally planning to go back to Europe because we haven't been in

years,

but the cost of airline tickets and the long delays changed our minds.

We decided we'll go somewhere closer to home.

Now that you have these six clear uses of the past continuous

form in English, it's time to practice. I have three questions for you.

I want you to answer these three questions using the past continuous

question. Number one, think about your last vacation.

What was the first day like?

Share some contextual or background details about your vacation.

Question number two,

what was a past habit that you broke or grew out of?

You can use a sentence structure such as when I was a kid.

I constantly, I always, I usually,

and then continue with the past continuous form. And then question number three,

tell me about a time when you changed your mind.

What was your original plan and what did you decide? In the end, as always,

you can share your answers to those questions with me in the comments below.

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