past continuous tense-English grammar lesson

Read this text:                                                         អានជាភាសាខ្មែរ

            Yesterday, Vuthy taught his part –time students as usual. He started at 5 and finished at 7 pm.  Thirty minutes later, when he was explaining the lesson to the students, one of his friends, Eng Tith, called to invite him to eat something. Vuthy wanted to go, but he couldn’t because he was trying to finish his lesson. However, he promised to go after class.

            The underlined sentences are called the past continuous tense.

1.      He was explaining the lesson to the students.

2.      He was trying to finish his lesson.

           

@ We form the past continuous tense like this:

·         Subject + was/were + base verb + ING +...

More example:       

 Positive:

Subject		base verb+ING
I/he/she/it      Dara/Jane...	was	swimming sleeping	in the pool soundly
You/we/they          Dara and Jane          My brothers	were

                                    Negative:

        Subject+ was/were +NOT + base verb+ ING+ ...

Subject		base verb+ING
I/he/she/it          Dara/Jane...	was not (wasn’t)	swimming sleeping	in the pool soundly
You/we/they          Dara and Jane          My brothers	were not (weren’t)

                                    Question

·         Was/Were + Subject + base verb +ING+...?

	Subject	base verb+ING
Was	I/he/she/it Dara/Jane...	swimming sleeping	in the pool? soundly?
Were	you/we/they Dara and Jane my brothers

                                    Short answer

Questions	short answer (+)	short answer(-)
Were they swimming?	Yes, they were	No, they weren’t
Was he sleeping?	Yes, he was	No, he wasn’t

@  IMPORTANT

·         For continuous tenses, you need to know spelling rule of verb + ING.

·         The auxiliary verb “was” is singular so only singular subjects are used with it.

  Ex: Singular subjects: I/he/she/it/ a dog / the wind/...

·         The auxiliary verb ‘were’ is plural so it is used with plural subjects.

  Ex: you/we/they/ two dogs/their parents...

·           The subject ‘you’ can be singular or plural. However, in grammar rules it is           used with plural verbs.

Use

The past continuous tense is used:

1.      to describe an action which was happening at a specific time in the past.

·      Mr. Chantha was watching TV at 6.30. (he started at 6 and finished at 7pm)

·      They were playing football this time yesterday.

2.      to talk about two or more actions that were going on at the same time.

·      While my friends were drinking at clubs, I was writing my lesson.

·      When I was waiting for my friends, a crowd of students were leaving for their home.

3.      to show a longer action that was interrupted by a shorter one.

·      When he was eating dinner around 7, the light went out.

(longer action)                                (shorter action)

·      Sue and her husband were talking on the phone, when I saw them.

@ Note:

The past continuous tense shows the longer action and the past simple shows the shorter one.

4.      to tell about the longer background of a narrative.

·         When she was walking along the road, she noticed that someone was following her. She felt frightened and ....

5.      to talk about a past action which was temporary.

·      I was working for ANZ royal bank during the last two years at university.

·      Bora was staying with his untie when he was ill.

6.      to show our annoyance over someone’s behavior in the past.

·      Last week, my brother was always asking for money.

·      This time yesterday my mother was constantly asking me to do things.

 អានជាភាសាខ្មែរ

Thanks for reading!