ESL Inventory

Past Continuous: Rules, Examples & Exercises

Imagine what happened in the past like a movie. To describe it, we use the Past Continuous Tense. Try this exercise to check what you know about it:

EXERCISE: Past Continuous – True/False

Choose ‘true’ if the sentence is correct, and ‘false’ is the sentence is not correct.

1 / 10

We weren’t playing football when it started to rain.

2 / 10

They wasn’t waiting for the bus at 7 a.m.

3 / 10

I was cooking dinner when the doorbell rang.

4 / 10

He was studying when I called him.

5 / 10

Were you study when the power went out?

6 / 10

Were they working late last night?

7 / 10

We weren’t sleeping when the phone rang.

8 / 10

He was watching TV when you called him?

9 / 10

She was read a book when I arrived.

10 / 10

Was she crying when you spoke to her?

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Was this too hard? Study the article below and do the exercises at the bottom of this page.

The past continuous tense is used to talk about actions that were happening at a specific time in the past or actions that were interrupted by another event.

Structure

The past continuous tense is formed using:

  • Affirmative: Subject + was/were + verb (-ing).
  • Negative: Subject + was not/were not (wasn’t/weren’t) + verb (-ing).
  • Interrogative: Was/Were + subject + verb (-ing)?

Verb (-ing) Form

To form the “-ing” form of a verb:

  • Add -ing: work → working, play → playing.
  • Drop the e and add -ing: write → writing.
  • Double the last consonant for short, stressed vowels: run → running.

Conjugation Table

Past Continuous conjugation infographic by ESL Inventory showing affirmative, negative, and interrogative forms with was/were + verb-ing. Includes examples such as “I was working,” “She wasn’t working,” and “Were they working?” for beginner English learners studying the past continuous tense.
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When to Use the Past Continuous Tense

This verb tense is used in the following situations:

Infographic explaining the uses of the Past Continuous tense in English. Three main functions are shown: unfinished and precise actions in the past with examples like ‘I was driving to work at 8am’ and ‘She wasn’t working last week’; background events with examples such as ‘She was having a shower when the phone rang’ and ‘It wasn’t raining when they got home’; and habits in the past with adverbs like always, constantly, forever, illustrated by sentences such as ‘She was always wearing a funny sweater.’ Includes simple yellow icons for each category and the ESL-Inventory owl logo.
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Finding confusing with other Past Tenses? You can also study Past Simple, Past Perfect, or even to know more about habits in the past study Semi-Modals of Habits.

Time Expressions for Past Continuous

This verb tense often uses these time expressions:

  • At (specific time): At 6 p.m., I was having dinner.
  • When (interruption): I was sleeping when the alarm went off.
  • While (two actions): She was reading while he was cooking.

Key Points

  1. Affirmative: Use was/were + verb (-ing).
  2. Negative: Add not after “was/were” (short forms: wasn’t/weren’t).
  3. Interrogative: Start with was/were, then use subject + verb (-ing).
  4. Use time expressions like at, when, and while to give context.

Exercises on Past Continuous Tense

EXERCISE: Write a complete sentence in the Past Continuous

Write complete sentences in the Past Continuous. Use affirmative, negative, or question forms as indicated.
Example:
Prompt: she – play the piano – then (affirmative)
Answer: She was playing the piano then.

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I – sleep – when he arrived (affirmative)

2 / 10

She – drive – during the storm (question)

3 / 10

They – eat – when the lights went out (negative)

4 / 10

He – talk – on the phone (question)

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He – work – all night (affirmative)

6 / 10

They – play football – then (affirmative)

7 / 10

We – walk – in the park (affirmative)

8 / 10

She – study – for the exam (negative)

9 / 10

We – have dinner – when she called (negative)

10 / 10

You – listen to music (question)

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Affirmative: Ego4u1 | Ego4u2 | Ego4u3 | Ego4u4 | AgendaWeb1 | AgendaWeb2 | Focus1 | Focus2 | Focus3 | LiveWorksheets1 | LiveWorksheets2

Negative: Ego4u1 | Ego4u2 | Ego4u3 | Ego4u4 | EnglischHilfen1 | EnglischHilfen2

Interrogative: PerfectEnglish | Ego4u1 | Ego4u2 | Ego4u3 | Ego4u4 | EnglischHilfen |

All mixed: EnglishPage | PerfectEnglish1 | PerfectEnglish2 | PerfectEnglish3 | EnglishClub | AgendaWeb1 | AgendaWeb2 | AgendaWeb3 | LearnEnglish | MontseMorales | ITS | EslGamesPlus | Grammarism | EngBlocks | ReallyLearnEnglish | LiveWorksheets1 | LiveWorksheets2 | LiveWorksheets3 | ISpeakSpoke | ISpeakSpoke2 | ISpeakSpoke3 | ISpeaksSpoke4 | ReallyLearnEnglish | Wordwall1 | Wordwall2 | Wordwall3 | Wordwall4