SIMPLE PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE

PATTERN

(+) S + to be (was, were) + Ving + C

(- ) S + to be (was, were) + not + Ving + C
(?) To be (was, were) + S + Ving +C

FUNCTION

Simple Past Continuous Tense is a tense that is used to show an

activity that is going on in the past when another activity happens.

I did I was doing I’d done

_______*__________________________*______________________*__________
Past Past Continuous Past Perfect

TIME SIGNALS

When, while, as, etc.

EXAMPLES:

(+) I was sleeping when my father came home.

(- ) I wasn’t sleeping when my father came home.
(?) Was I sleeping when my father came home?

NOTE

There are some verbs (for example: know/want/believe/go/etc.) that

aren’t normally used in past continuous tense.

Example:
 We went to market yesterday (not “We are going to market
yesterday”).
 I want to go home (not “I am wanting to go home”).
 EXERCISES

A. Change the verbs in the brackets into past continuous form!

1.) Mary and John __________ (talk) when the teacher came in.
2.) I __________ (study) when Roy called me.
3.) The students __________ (play) in the school yard when the bell
rang.
4.) It __________ (rain) when I left home.
5.) The snow __________ (fall) when we went out.

B. Change these sentences into positive, negative, and

interrogative form!

1.) (+) I was playing computer when the lamp went out.
2.) (-) Mother was not cooking when I arrived home.
3.) (?) Were they playing cards while we came?
4.) (-) Anna was not studying while the phone rang.
5.) (+) We were watching television when we heard a strange
sound.

C. Answer these questions using Past Continuous Tense!

1.) What were you doing when I called you last night? (reading some
books)
2.) What was mother cooking when father came home? (cooking
salad)
3.) What were the boys doing when the accident happened?
(playing kites)
4.) What was father doing when you wake up this morning?
(drinking a cup of coffee)
5.) Where were they going when Ratna called them? (going to the
beach)
 We thanked to God because we can finish this task as well as
we can. Group 2, has made this task to improve quality and
relevance of English in tenses.
As we know, there are 16 tenses:
# Simple Present # Simple Future
# Present Continuous # Future Continuous
# Present Perfect # Future Perfect
# Present Perfect Continuous # Future Perfect Continuous
# Simple Past # Future Past
# Past Continuous # Future Past Continuous
# Past Perfect # Future Past Perfect
# Past Perfect Continuous # Future Past Perfect
Continuous

In this chance in our task, we will learn more about Past

Continuous Tense. We have made summary of this tense in this
task. It can develop the competence of students in knowledge and
attitude.
This part was made systematically and appropriated with
students’ thought.
We hope our work will be useful for everyone who read this.
To all of sides who have helped us to finish this task, we are
really thanked to you. We realized that this task is far from
complete. Hopefully, suggestions and critics are given to us.
Thank you.

Surabaya. August 2007

Group 2
FRONT COVER

PREFACE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SIMPLE PAST TENSE

EXERCISES

KEY ANSWERS

REFERENCES
 KEY ANSWERS

A. Change the verbs in the brackets into past continuous form!

1.) Mary and John were talking when the teacher came in.
2.) I was studying when Roy called me.
3.) The students were playing in the school yard when the bell rang.
4.) It was raining when I left home.
5.) The snow was falling when we went out.

B. Change these sentences into positive, negative, and

interrogative form!

1.) (-) I was not playing computer when the lamp went out.
(?) Was I playing computer when the lamp went out?
2.) (+) Mother was cooking when I arrived home.
(?) Was mother cooking when I arrived home?
3.) (+) They were playing cards while we came.
(-) They weren’t playing cards while we came.
4.) (+) Anna was studying when the phone rang.
(?) Was Anna studying when the phone rang?
5.) (-) We weren’t watching television when we heard a strange
sound.
(?) Were we watching television when we heard a strange
sound?

C. Answer these questions using Past Continuous Tense!

1.) I was reading some books when you called me last night.
2.) Mother was cooking salad when father came home.
3.) The boys were playing kites when the accident happened.
4.) Father was drinking a cup of coffee when I wake up this
morning.
5.) They were going to the beach when Ratna called them.