"Past Continius" is the past long tense. This is an analytic form that is formed by using the past tense auxiliary verb to be (was / were) and adding the ending -ing to the semantic verb.
When native speakers use Past Continuous
Native English speakers quite often use the present tense in their speech to express a long process that took place in the past. The start and end of the action do not matter because they are unknown. The only important thing is that the action is in progress, i.e. continues.
An hour ago I was watching TV
Unlike Russian, where it is customary to allocate only three tenses (present, future and past), English contains as many as 12. But at the initial stage of learning a foreign language, it is important to understand that it also, in fact, has three tenses. However, they have their own grammatical varieties, which foreigners are trying to understand for a very long time and painstakingly. In principle, there is nothing difficult in understanding the tenses of the English language. The main thing to remember is that, for example, the tenses of the Simple category are aimed at expressing constant and regularly repeated actions, the tenses of the categoryContinuous shows the duration, the Perfect category focuses on the end result.
The English system of tenses is more complicated than the Russian one, but it is more informative. The English language as a whole has a very clear and consistent structure. After all, this language has a clear word order, unlike Russian. As for times, the English have a suitable time for every occasion. They convey the semantic load of the sentence using a certain time. The Russian language is less informative in this regard.
When is the Past Continuous used?
There are four cases of using "Paste Continius", the rules for using which must be clearly known and understood. Often, English learners make a lot of mistakes when using tenses, often forget about auxiliary verbs, endings, etc. Ending errors occur in Present Simple Tense when students forget to add endings to a verb in the third person.
To avoid such mistakes, you should not learn these rules by heart, but just understand the logic of use. In this scenario, the theme of English tenses will get used to quickly and efficiently.
The first rule for using Past Continuous Tense
Firstly, the Past Continuous is used to show actions that lasted at a specific moment or period in the past.
We were writing for one hour/We wrote for an hour.
It is important to note that, as a rule, such offers containindication of the time of what is happening or a whole period. For example, you can find in the sentences of the past long tense such words indicating the time as: at 6 a.m. (at 6 am), at 3 o`clock (at three o'clock), etc. Also in sentences there can be words indicating a period, such as while (while), whole day (whole day), during morning or some time (during the morning or some time), etc.
It is important to note that state verbs are not used in Past and Present Continuous.
Second rule of use
Secondly, "Past Continius" is used to express actions that took place at a certain period in the past, those. a situation that lasted a short period of time in the past. This period of time is usually specified in the proposals.
He was studying literature in winter/ He was studying literature in winter.
Third rule of use
Thirdly, "Paste Continius", examples of which can be found in this article, is also used in situations that express the person's individual plans in the past, but for some reason they did not happen.
I was hoping to go to Canada.
The fourth rule of use
Fourthly, "Paste Continius" is used to express a negative attitude towards other people's habits, etc. As a rule, such sentences are most often called emotionally colored. They can be accompanied by words such as always (always), often(often), constantly (constantly).
All additional subtleties of using "Paste Continius": sentences with examples
Besides the clear rules for using this tense, there are some other situations where it should be used. When else can we use Paste Continius?
This tense is used when a person is talking about two parallel actions, i.e. occurring simultaneously in the past. As a rule, such actions are connected by unions: and (and) and while (while). It should be noted that none of the parallel actions of the proposal is a background for the rest.
I was sleeping while my mother was cooking breakfast for me and my father
An interesting fact is that Past Continuous and Past Simple are quite often used together to express interruption of an action by another. Unclear? Then we will give a very vivid example.
I was reading the book, when somebody knocked in the door
As a rule, such actions are connected with conjunctions when (when), before (before), while (while), untill (not yet). In a situation of informal conversation, sometimes when is used instead of while.
It is also important to note that the Past Continuous is used in most cases in fiction: in stories and stories. This tense is used to describe the full atmosphere and setting of a story.
