Past Continuous Tense

The definitions of past continuous:

We use the past continuous to say that someone was in the middle of doing something at a certain time. The action or situation had already started before this time but hadn’t finished:

-This time last year I was living in Brazil.

-What were you doing at 10 o’clock last night?

The elaboration of past continuous:

The past continuous does not tell us wheather an actions was finished or not. Perhaps it was finished,perhaps not. Compare:

-Tom was cooking the dinner. (past continuous)= He was in the middle of cooking the dinner and we don’t know whether  he finished cooking cooking it.

-Tom cooked the dinner. (past simple)= He began and finished it.

We often use the past continuous (I was doing) and the past simple (I did) together to say that something happened in the midlle of something else:

-Tom burnt his hand when he was cooking the dinner.

-I saw Jim in the park. He was sitting on the grass and reading a book.

-It was raining when I got up.

-While Iwas working in the garden, I hurt my back.

But to say that one thing happened after another, use the past simple:

Yesterday evening Tom was having a bath when the phone rang. He got out of the bath and answered the phone. 

Compare:

·      When Tom arrived, we were having dinner. (past continuous) = We had already started dinner before Tom arrived.

·      When Tom arrived,we had dinner. (past simple) = Tom arrived and then we had dinner.

The Pattern of Past Continuous:

          S + WAS/WERE + V-ING

Examples:

-He was reading news paper  in the living room.

-She was making a phone call.

-They were watching tv.

There were 2 activities in the past time

The pattern:

    S + V 2; When + S + was/were + V-ing

Example:

-When Mr.Punk was teaching, someone knocked at the door.

-Susi called me when I was sleeping.