PAST PROGRESSIVE (ALSO CALLED PAST CONTINUOUS)

 The past progressive is used:

-     for past actions which continued for some time.  It is not clear when the action began or finished.

Example:  It was getting darker when we finished filming.

 

-     to express an action in the past which was in progress when another action occurred.

Example:  We were chatting when the producer came in.

 

-     as a past equivalent of the present progressive/present continuous.

Example:  At ten o’clock, the actress was eating dinner.

 

FORM

The affirmative structure of the past progressive is formed by using the past of the verb to be (was/were) and by adding ING to the present participle of the verb.

Example:  I was watching American Beauty with you.

 

The negative structure is formed by adding NOT after the auxiliary be (was or were).

Example:  I was not watching American Beauty with you.

 

The interrogative structure is formed by placing the auxiliary be (was/were) before the subject.

Example:  Were you watching American Beauty when I came in?

 

References:

     Grammar Notes from Micheline Perreault.

     Thomson A.J. and Martinet A.V.  A Practical English Grammar,  3rd edition,     Oxford University Press, pp149-151.

     Source: Sylvie Drouin, CS des Bois-Francs, QC