form
We use was/were + the -ing form of the verb.
+ | I, she, he, it you, we, they | was were | working . | |
– | I, she, he, it you, we, they | (full form) was not were not | working . | |
I, she, he, it you, we, they | (short form) wasn’t weren’t | |||
? + | Was Were | I, she, he, it you, we, they | working? | |
? – | (full form) Was Were | I, she, he, it you, we, they | not | working? |
(short form) Wasn’t Weren’t | I, she, he, it you, we, they | |||
uses
We use the past continuous
to provide the background scene to an action or event (usually in the past simple). We often use the words like when, while and as:
It happened at five in the afternoon while she was watching the news on TV.
He was doing his homework in his bedroom when the burglar come into the house.
It is possible to have more than one background scene happening at the same time:
- He was listening to music and working on his computer.
When we want to emphasize the activity without focusing on its completion. Compare:
For a while last year I was working at the cinema, studying for my degree and writing a column for the local newspaper. (we don't know if the actions were completed or not, or whether they happened at the same time)
Last year I worked at the cinema, studied for my degree and wrote a column for the local news paper. (suggests all of the jobs are now complete, and probably happened in that order)
Note: State verbs (see Unit 1) do not generally have a continuous form.