Past Progressive

1 and Simple Past

Someone Stole His

Briefcase!

Focus on Grammar 3
Part I, Unit 4
By Ruth Luman, Gabriele Steiner, and BJ Wells
Copyright 2006. Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Reporting to the Police 1
It was
I was about
having ten of
a cup in coffee,
the
morning,
and and I was the
I was watching sitting in
people
Maxis Caf
in thenear City Park.
caf.

What
Whatwere
did you
you
doing?
see?
Reporting to the Police 2
To my left,there
To Suddenly,
my right, therewas
there wasaanother
was ayoung
youngwoman.
man. He
young She
man.was
He
drinking
was eating
snatched coffee
the a red
hugeand reading
dish of ice
briefcase andacream.
newspaper.
ran Shewith
away A big
was it so
red briefcase
enjoying
fast thatit.no onewas standing
knew what wasnexthappening.
to his feet.
After the man stole the briefcase, we
were all talking loudly. The owner of
the briefcase was very upset!
 Past Progressive
Use the past progressive to describe an action
that was in progress at a specific time in the past.

I was having coffee.

She was eating ice cream.

10 a.m.
now
past future
was having
was eating
 Be Careful!
Non-action verbs are not usually used in the
progressive. Note the exception with have.

I was
I had
having
a headache.
a headache.

I was having coffee.

She was having ice cream.

Here the meaning

of have is eat or drink.
Past Progressive & Simple Past 1

Use past progressive with simple past to describe an

action that was interrupted by another action.

They were enjoying the

morning when the thief
stole the briefcase.

stole
now future
past were enjoying
Past Progressive & Simple Past 2

Use past progressive for the action in progress. Use

when and the simple past for the action that interrupts.

The man was reading the

newspaper when the thief
snatched his briefcase.

snatched
now
past future
was reading
Past Progressive & Simple Past 3

Use past progressive to focus on the duration of an action.

Use simple past to focus on the completion of an action.

I was sitting in Maxis Caf

and watching people.
the people there.

The thief stole the briefcase

and ran away.

now
past future
was sitting / was watching
 What were you and others
Practice 1 doing? Answer the questions
using the past progressive.

Example:
What were you doing when I called this morning?
I was trying to wake up when you called.

1. What were you doing when the phone rang last night?

2. What were your friends doing at 6 p.m. yesterday evening?

3. What were you doing last weekend?

4. What was the teacher doing when you first saw her/him today?
Past Progressive with While 1
Use past progressive with while to describe two
actions in progress at the same time in the past.

The man was reading

the newspaper while the
woman was eating her
ice cream.
now
past future
was reading
was eating
Past Progressive with While 2
Use past progressive with while to describe two
actions in progress at the same time in the past.

While I was describing

While
the theft,
the theft, the
the police
police
officer was
officer was writing
writing
everything down.
everything down.
now
past future
was describing
was writing
 Time Clauses
The time clause (= the part with while or when) can
come at the beginning or the end of the sentence.

They were having coffee

when the thief snatched the briefcase.

When the thief snatched the briefcase ,

they were having coffee.
 Be Careful!
Sentences with both clauses in the simple past have a
different meaning from sentences with one clause in the
simple past and one in the past progressive.

When the waiter came, First the waiter

came; then I
I looked at the menu. looked at the
First I was
menu.
When the waiter came, looking at the
menu; then the
I was looking at the menu. waiter came.

came
now
past came was looking
future

looked
 Form sentences with while.
Practice 2 Use the past progressive.

Example: read / steal

While the man was reading, the prisoner was stealing his wallet.

1. talk / drink 3. play / watch 4. not look / burn

2. shine / splash 5. talk / sit
4.
5.
3.
2. While
1.While the
Whilethe
one woman
thewoman
manwas
women
sun was
was
was not
playing
were looking,
talking pool,
talking,
shining, the the
onfountain
the
the
they toast
phone,
other
were was
the
man man
was
drinking
was was
tea.
splashing.
burning.
sitting in the chair.
watching.
 References

Copyright 2006 Pearson Education and

its licensors. All rights reserved.