f t g+ p
FORM
Examples:
Use the Past Continuous to indicate that a longer action in the past was interrupted. The
interruption is usually a shorter action in the Simple Past. Remember this can be a real
interruption or just an interruption in time.
Examples:
In USE 1, described above, the Past Continuous is interrupted by a shorter action in the
Simple Past. However, you can also use a specific time as an interruption.
Examples:
Last night at 6 PM, I was eating dinner.
At midnight, we were still driving through the desert.
Yesterday at this time, I was sitting at my desk at work.
IMPORTANT
In the Simple Past, a specific time is used to show when an action began or finished. In the
Past Continuous, a specific time only interrupts the action.
Examples:
When you use the Past Continuous with two actions in the same sentence, it expresses the
idea that both actions were happening at the same time. The actions are parallel.
Examples:
USE 4 Atmosphere
In English, we often use a series of parallel actions to describe the atmosphere at a particular
time in the past.
Example:
When I walked into the office, several people were busily typing, some were talking
on the phones, the boss was yelling directions, and customers were waiting to be
helped. One customer was yelling at a secretary and waving his hands. Others were
complaining to each other about the bad service.
Examples:
Clauses are groups of words which have meaning, but are often not complete sentences.
Some clauses begin with the word "when" such as "when she called" or "when it bit me."
Other clauses begin with "while" such as "while she was sleeping" and "while he was
surfing." When you talk about things in the past, "when" is most often followed by the verb
tense Simple Past, whereas "while" is usually followed by Past Continuous. "While"
expresses the idea of "during that time." Study the examples below. They have similar
meanings, but they emphasize different parts of the sentence.
Examples:
Examples:
ADVERB PLACEMENT
The examples below show the placement for grammar adverbs such as: always, only, never,
ever, still, just, etc.
Examples:
Examples:
The salesman was helping the customer when the thief came into the store. Active
The customer was being helped by the salesman when the thief came into the store.
Passive
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/pastcontinuous.html
Past continuous tense dibentuk dengan auxiliary verb “be”, berupa was/were – karena past
tense (masa lalu), dan present participle. Was untuk singular subject (I, she, he, it, dan kata
ganti orang ketiga) dan were untuk plural subject (you, they, we, orang ketiga jamak).
Tense ini umumnya hanya terjadi pada aksi berupa dynamic verb, tidak stative verb karena
secara umum hanya dynamic verb yang memiliki bentuk continuous.
Lihat juga:
http://www.wordsmile.com/rumus-contoh-kalimat-passive-past-continuous-tense
Functions of the Past continuous
The past continuous describes actions or events in a time before now, which began in the
past and is still going on at the time of speaking. In other words, it expresses an unfinished
or incomplete action in the past.
It is used:
Often, to describe the background in a story written in the past tense, e.g. "The sun was
shining and the birds were singing as the elephant came out of the jungle. The other animals
were relaxing in the shade of the trees, but the elephant moved very quickly. She was
looking for her baby, and she didn't notice the hunter who was watching her through his
binoculars. When the shot rang out, she was running towards the river..."
to describe an unfinished action that was interrupted by another event or action, e.g. "I was
having a beautiful dream when the alarm clock rang."
to express a change of mind: e.g. "I was going to spend the day at the beach but I've decided
to get my homework done instead."
with 'wonder', to make a very polite request: e.g. "I was wondering if you could baby-sit for
me tonight."
Examples
They were waiting for the bus when the accident happened.
Caroline was skiing when she broke her leg.
When we arrived he was having a bath.
When the fire started I was watching television.
Note: with verbs not normally used in the continuous form, the simple past is used.
The past continuous of any verb is composed of two parts : the past tense of the verb "to be"
(was/were), and the base of the main verb +ing.
Affirmative
Negative
Interrogative
Subject was/were base + ing
Interrogative negative
You were playing You were not playing Were you playing?
http://www.ef.com/english-resources/english-grammar/past-continuous-tense/