ESL Grammar: PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE (3) – “when”

In this ESL grammar lesson, students practice using the past continuous tense with phrases starting with “when” to talk about two things that were happening at the same time.

ESL Grammar: Using “When + Past Tense” with the Past Continuous Tense

The structure “when + past tense” is used to describe a specific moment or event that interrupts or provides context to an ongoing action described by the past continuous tense. Here’s how it works:

• Past Continuous Tense: Describes an ongoing action in the past.
• When + Past Tense: Introduces the event that interrupts or occurs during the ongoing action.

Examples

• Affirmative: I was watching TV when the power went out.
• Negative: She was not studying for her exams when her friends arrived.
• Interrogative: What were you doing when the phone rang?

The English grammar lesson below introduces how to construct past continuous tense sentences with “when + past tense” clauses 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!).