Lesson 15: Unit 74 - Past Continuous Tense
The lesson presents the Past Continuous Tense (was/were + V-ing) – how it is formed, used and contrasted with the Past Simple, with a wealth of examples from stories about animals.
About this lesson
In this lesson you will learn how to form and use the Past Continuous Tense to describe actions that were happening in the past. You will study the structure (was/were + V-ing) and how to apply it in different contexts and real situations. You will see how the tense describes the background of events and how it connects with the Past Simple. You will master the skill of telling stories and describing specific moments in the past accurately and naturally.
40 minutes
What you'll learn
- Form affirmative, negative and interrogative forms of the Past Continuous Tense.
- Distinguish the Past Continuous from the Past Simple in context.
- Use the Past Continuous to describe an action in progress at a specific moment in the past.
- Link sentences with 'while' and 'when', placing one action within the frame of another.
- Describe the background or setting of an event with the Past Continuous.
- Recognise action verbs suitable for the continuous tenses.
Lesson vocabulary
- was/were + V-ing She was making a cake when the guests arrived.
- hurry A dog was hurrying to a stream with a large bone in his mouth.
- cross When he was crossing the bridge, he saw a picture of himself.
- greedy 'Ah, now I have two nice bones to eat,' said the greedy dog.
- search While the man was searching for the left shoe, the hare took the right shoe.
- untie The hare untied the sheep and took it to his home.
- quarrel They weren't quarrelling when we met them.
- jog She was jogging in the park when it began to rain.
- prepare I was reading while he was preparing dinner.
- bone A dog was hurrying to a stream with a large bone in his mouth.
- while I was listening to music while I was studying words.
- when My mum was cooking dinner when the guests arrived.
- background Past Continuous gives the background to events.
- in progress Past Continuous describes actions in progress in the past.
- specific time Past Continuous is used at a specific time in the past.
In other languages: Български