Past Continuous. Rules and usage

One of the main sections of English grammar is "Past a long time," or, as it is called more often in their native language, Past Continuous. The rules of practical application of this time are simple, and the easiest way to learn them is by examples. In the article below, suggestions will be made, in which this form of past tense most often sounds. Based on them you can understand that it is quite common.

When do we use this time?

More often, in order to talk about some long-lasting action that had its place in the past, it is Past Continuous that is used. Rules for applying this time are based on the fact that someone did something (played, walked, searched, waited, and so on), but there is no information that the action was over. For example, the following sentence: When you came, I was taking a lesson . "When you came, I was at the lesson." Similarly, you can say "I played the guitar", "I drew", "I swam" and much more.

We construct a simple sentence

Now a little bit into the very grammar of the Past Continuous. Rules for constructing sentences are based on the use of the keyword - the verb to be in its various forms, which vary depending on the number. So, for the singular, the verb "to be" in the past tense will sound like was , if we are talking about the plural, then we were used. So, you can divide the pronoun into two groups: for I (I), He (it), She (she) and It (it) suits the form was , and for You , We (we) and They (they) , Respectively, the form were . Here are some examples of suggestions.

He was looking for something intresting. "He was looking for something interesting."

You were playing the flute. - You played the flute.

We were smocking. - We smoked.

Post a question in Past Continuous

Now we turn to the construction of interrogative sentences in Past Continuous. The rules are that it is necessary to put this most auxiliary verb to be in the first place, and then simply put all other words to it:

Was he looking for something intresting ? "Was he looking for something interesting?"

Were you playing the flute ? - Did you play the flute?

If you need to refute something

The negative form of the given time is constructed in the same way as the positive one, only after the verb to be there now appears the negation not , which can be shortened as follows:

He was not looking for something intresting. "He was not looking for anything interesting."

You were not (were not) play the flute. "You did not play the flute."

Other long English times

More complex, but still quite often used time in English is Past Perfect Continuous. The rules for the practical application of this temporary form are as follows: a moment is described from the past that has ended to another point, or has not ended. As an example, consider the following sentences:

I have a waiting bus for an hour. - I waited for the bus for an hour, and then called a taxi.

Proposals are constructed by combining the verbs have and to be , where the latter is pronounced in the third form - been . Thus, for pronouns I , and also You , We and They say we have been , and for He , She and It - has been .

A few common words

Most often, after using the two above-described times in the sentence, further actions are described using the Past Simple time. Past Continuous (the rules described above) may indicate a kind of lasting action in the past, during which something concrete happened (While I was washing, you rang the doorbell). Past Perfect Continuous always shows us how something lasts long, and then is interrupted by a specific event.

The use of both these times is widespread both in America and in all other English-speaking countries of the world. Often, auxiliary verbs are shortened, attributed as endings to words, but without them any sentence changes its original meaning.