ESL Grammar: PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE (1) – Introduction

This ESL grammar lesson introduces students to the past continuous tense (be verb + verb-ing). Students learn to use the past continuous tense to talk about something that was happening at a specific time in the past, followed by a short exercise in which students practice using the past continuous tense to answer various questions.

ESL Grammar: Forming the Past Continuous Tense

The past continuous tense is formed using the past tense of the verb “to be” (was/were) + the -ing form of the main verb. Here are some examples:

• I was watching TV when the phone rang.
• She was studying for her exams all night.
• They were playing soccer when it started to rain.

ESL Grammar: When to Use the Past Continuous Tense

The past continuous tense is used to describe:

• Actions that were ongoing at a specific time in the past: At 8 PM, I was reading a book.
• Interrupted actions in the past: He was cooking dinner when the doorbell rang.
• Parallel actions that were happening at the same time: While I was doing my homework, my sister was listening to music.

The English grammar lesson below introduces the past continuous tense to talk about something that was happening over a specific period of time in the past. Our series of ESL grammar lessons on subjects and verbs introduce these concepts and reinforce them through helpful and instructive exercises.

This lesson is available for free download, and you can download many more English grammar lessons focusing on advanced aspects of English grammar (past continuous tense, present perfect tense, present perfect continuous tense, passive voice, embedded questions, relative clauses) in our comprehensive, intermediate- to advanced-level ESL grammar textbook Great, Great Grammar! (Book 3: Tenses and More!).