Unit 6. Past continuous (I was doing).
Unit 6; Part A


They began at 10 o'clock and finished at 11.30.
So, at 10.30 they were playing tennis.
They were playing = they were in the middle of playing. They had not finished playing.
Was/were -ing is the past continuous:
I/he/she/it was we/you/they were | playing doing working etc. |
Unit 6; Part B
I was doing something = I was in the middle of doing something at ace/tain time. The action or situation had already started before thistime, but had not finished:![]() |
• This time last year I was living in Brazil. • What were you doing at 10 o'clock last night? • I waved to Helen, but she wasn't looking. |
Unit 6; Part C

Past continuous (in the middle of an action) • I was walking home when I met Dave. (in the middle of an action) • Kate was watching television when we arrived. | Past simple (complete action) • I walked home after the party last night. (= all the way, completely) • Kate watched television a lot when she was ill last year. |
Unit 6; Part D

• Matt phoned while we were having dinner.
• It was raining when I got up.
• I saw you in the park yesterday. You were sitting on the grass and reading a book.
• I hurt my back while I was working in the garden.
But we use the past simple to say that one thing happened after another:
• I was walking along the road when I saw Dave. So I stopped, and we had a chat.

• When Karen arrived, we were having dinner. (= we had already started before she arrived) | • When Karen arrived, we had dinner. (= Karen arrived, and then we had dinner) |
Unit 6; Part E
Some verbs (for example, know and want) are not normally used in the continuous (see Unit 4A):• We were good friends. We knew each other well. (not We were knowing)
• I was enjoying the party, but Chris wanted to go home. (not was wanting)
Exercises
![]() | Unit 5 Unit 6 Unit 7 | ![]() |