An action in progress in the past: The past continuous (also called the past progressive) describes an action that was in progress at a moment in the past — it had started but had not yet finished. You build it with was / were + the -ing form of the verb: I was reading, they were waiting.
Think of it as a camera that pauses the past and films what was happening: At 8 p.m. I was studying. The action is mid-flow, not a finished event.
- past continuous
- the tense for an action in progress in the past: was/were + verb-ing
- auxiliary (helping verb)
- the small verb that carries the tense — here was (singular) or were (plural)
- the -ing form
- the present participle: read -> reading, run -> running, write -> writing
- in progress
- happening over a period of time, not yet completed
- past simple
- the tense for a finished past action (I read, I waited); contrasts with the past continuous
Why it carries the marks: Almost every story, diary entry, blog or witness account at SL needs the past continuous to set a scene and to describe what was going on around a key event. Choosing it correctly (and not slipping into the past simple) is core Criterion A (Language) accuracy — examiners notice straight away when a narrative jumps between was doing and did by accident.
Was / were + -ing: There is only one thing to choose: was or were. Use was with I, he, she, it; use were with you, we, they. Then add the -ing form of the main verb — and that never changes for the subject. Negatives add not (wasn't / weren't); questions put the auxiliary first (Was she …? / Were they …?).
| Subject | Positive | Negative | Question |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | I was working | I wasn't working | Was I working? |
| you | you were working | you weren't working | Were you working? |
| he / she / it | she was working | she wasn't working | Was she working? |
| we | we were working | we weren't working | Were we working? |
| they | they were working | they weren't working | Were they working? |
Spelling the -ing form: Three quick spelling rules for the -ing form:
1. Drop a silent final -e: write -> writing, make -> making, dance -> dancing.
2. After a short stressed vowel, double the final consonant: run -> running, sit -> sitting, swim -> swimming.
3. Final -ie becomes -ying: lie -> lying, die -> dying.
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Scene-setting and interruptions: The past continuous has clear jobs. It sets the background to a story, describes two actions happening at the same time, and shows a longer action interrupted by a shorter one. That last job is the classic 'while … when …' pattern: the longer action takes the past continuous, the sudden one takes the past simple.
I was watching TV when the phone rang. (watching = in progress; rang = the short interruption.)
Uses of the past continuous
- Background / scene-setting — 'It was raining and the wind was blowing.'
- An action in progress at a past time — 'At nine o'clock I was studying for my exam.'
- Two actions at the same time (often with 'while') — 'While I was cooking, my sister was setting the table.'
- A longer action interrupted by a shorter one — 'We were walking home when it started to rain.'
- A repeated or annoying habit with 'always' — 'He was always losing his keys.'
Past continuous — in progress
- At 8 p.m. I was reading. (still going on at 8)
- While she was singing, we listened. (mid-action)
- It was snowing all morning. (background)
Past simple — completed
- At 8 p.m. I read a chapter. (finished it)
- She sang one song, then sat down. (whole event)
- It snowed, so school closed. (the fact, finished)
The 'while / when' rule of thumb: Use while before the long action (past continuous): While I was sleeping… Use when before the short action (past simple): …when the alarm went off. If you can swap to 'during the time that…', it takes the past continuous.
A scene told with the past continuous: Here is a short narrative built one sentence at a time. The background actions are in the past continuous (was cooking, was fixing, was sitting, was watching, was boiling, was falling) and the sudden event uses the past simple (went out, came back). Read it once for the picture, then look at how each verb is chosen.
IB-style task — the past continuous in action
A Saturday afternoon, step by step
- Last Saturday afternoon the whole house was busy. My mum was cooking lunch and my dad was fixing his old bicycle in the garage.
- I was sitting at the kitchen table doing my homework while my little brother was watching cartoons on the sofa.
- Suddenly the lights went out. (We use the past simple, "went out", for the short, completed action that interrupts.)
- When the power came back, the soup was still boiling on the stove and the rain was falling hard outside.
- By six o'clock everyone was laughing about it — and I still wasn't finishing my homework!
Steal this for your own story: Open a narrative with two or three past-continuous verbs to paint the scene ('The sun was setting, people were hurrying home'), then drop in a past-simple verb for the event that 'happens' ('…when I saw her'). That mix is exactly what scores well in a Paper 1 story, diary or blog.
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The slips to watch for: Three mistakes dominate. 1. Mixing up was / were with the subject ('they was running' instead of they were running). 2. Using the past continuous for a finished action that should be past simple ('Yesterday I was finishing my homework and went to bed' — the homework was finished, so it should be I finished). 3. Putting a state verb (know, want, like, believe) into the continuous ('I was knowing the answer' — say I knew). Compare the right version with the typical mistake.
Correct
- They were waiting outside the cinema.
- I finished my homework and went to bed.
- I knew the answer straight away.
Common mistake
- They was waiting outside the cinema. (was -> were with 'they')
- I was finishing my homework and went to bed. (finished action -> past simple)
- I was knowing the answer straight away. (state verb -> past simple 'knew')
Ask: in progress, or finished?: Before you write a past verb, run two checks. 1. If the action was still happening at that moment, use the past continuous (was/were + -ing) and match was / were to the subject. 2. If the action finished (or it is a state like know, want, like), use the past simple instead. When in doubt, ask: Could a camera still be filming it? If yes, past continuous.