PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE
(Bentuk lampau sedang berlangsung)
A.
Penggunaan
- Untuk menyatakan suatu peristiwa yang sedang berlangsung pada waktu lampau.
- Untuk menyatakan suatu peristiwa yang sedang berlangsung dimana ada peristiwa lain terjadi, pada waktu lampau.
- Untuk menerangkan peristiwa yang sedang terjadi, secara bersamaan dengan peristiwa lain di waktu lampau.
B.
Keterangan waktu
Keterangan waktu untuk Past
Continuous Tense antara lain :
-
… when : ketika
-
while : sementara
-
… as : ketika
-
the whole day yesterday
-
all day yesterday
-
all (morning, night)
C.
Susunan kalimat
- Positive (+) : Subject + was/were + V-ing
Subject
|
be 2
|
Verb I + ing
|
Object
|
I
|
was
|
writing
|
a story
|
You
We
They
|
were
|
buying
cleaning
playing
|
a shirt
the room
tennis
|
He
She
It
|
was
|
going
giving
swimming
|
to school
a present
very fast
|
- Negative (-) : Subject + was/were + not + Ving
Subject
|
be 2
|
not
|
Verb I + ing
|
Object
|
I
|
was
|
not
|
writing
|
a story
|
You
We
They
|
were
|
buying
cleaning
playing
|
a shirt
the room
tennis
|
|
He
She
It
|
was
|
going
giving
swimming
|
to school
a present
very fast
|
- Interrogative (?)
Was/were + Subject + verb ing
?
Was/ Were
|
Subject
|
Verb I + ing
|
Object
|
Was
|
I
|
writing
|
a story?
|
Were
|
You
We
They
|
buying
cleaning
playing
|
a shirt?
the room?
tennis?
|
Was
|
He
She
It
|
going
giving
swimming
|
to school?
a present?
very fast?
|
Past Continuous Tense
I was
singing
|
The past
continuous tense is an important tense in English. We use it to say what we
were in the middle of doing at a particular moment in the past.
How do we make the Past
Continuous Tense?
The
structure of the past continuous tense is:
subject
|
+
|
auxiliary verb BE
|
+
|
main verb
|
conjugated in simple past tense
|
present participle
|
|||
was
were |
base + ing
|
For negative
sentences in the past continuous tense, we insert not between the
auxiliary verb and main verb. For question sentences, we exchange the subject
and auxiliary verb. Look at these example sentences with the past
continuous tense:
subject
|
auxiliary
verb
|
main verb
|
|||
+
|
I
|
was
|
watching
|
TV.
|
|
+
|
You
|
were
|
working
|
hard.
|
|
-
|
He, she,
it
|
was
|
not
|
helping
|
Mary.
|
-
|
We
|
were
|
not
|
joking.
|
|
?
|
Were
|
you
|
being
|
silly?
|
|
?
|
Were
|
they
|
playing
|
football?
|
How do we use the Past
Continuous Tense?
The past
continuous tense expresses action at a particular moment in the past.
The action started before that moment but has not finished at that moment. For
example, yesterday I watched a film on TV. The film started at 7pm and finished
at 9pm.
At 8pm yesterday, I was watching TV.
|
|||||
past
|
present
|
future
|
|||
|
|||||
At 8pm, I was in the middle of watching TV.
|
When we use
the past continuous tense, our listener usually knows or understands what time
we are talking about. Look at these examples:
- I was working at 10pm last night.
- They were not playing football at 9am this morning.
- What were you doing at 10pm last night?
- What were you doing when he arrived?
- She was cooking when I telephoned her.
- We were having dinner when it started to rain.
- Ram went home early because it was snowing.
Some verbs
cannot be used in continuous/progressive tenses.
We often use
the past continuous tense to "set the scene" in stories. We use it to
describe the background situation at the moment when the action begins. Often,
the story starts with the past continuous tense and then moves into the simple
past tense. Here is an example:
" James
Bond was driving through town. It was raining. The wind was
blowing hard. Nobody was walking in the streets. Suddenly, Bond saw
the killer in a telephone box..."
Past Continuous Tense + Simple Past Tense
We often use
the past continuous tense with the simple past tense. We use the past
continuous tense to express a long action. And we use the simple past
tense to express a short action that happens in the middle of the
long action. We can join the two ideas with when or while.
In the following example, we have two actions:
In the following example, we have two actions:
- long action (watching TV), expressed with past continuous tense
- short action (telephoned), expressed with simple past tense
past
|
present
|
future
|
|||||||||
Long action.
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
Short action.
|
We can join
these two actions with when:
- I was watching TV when you telephoned.
(Notice that
"when you telephoned" is also a way of defining the time [8pm].)
We use:
We use:
- when + short action (simple past tense)
- while + long action (past continuous tense)
There are
four basic combinations:
I was
walking past the car
|
when
|
it
exploded.
|
|
When
|
the car
exploded
|
I was
walking past it.
|
|
The car
exploded
|
while
|
I was
walking past it.
|
|
While
|
I was
walking past the car
|
it
exploded.
|
Notice that
the long action and short action are relative.
- "Watching TV" took a few hours. "Telephoned" took a few seconds.
- "Walking past the car" took a few seconds. "Exploded" took a few milliseconds.
We use the past continuous tense to describe a past action over a period of time.
Past Continuous Timeline
For example:
Q) "What were they doing yesterday?" A) "They were working all day."
It can be used to describe what someone was doing at a particular point in time.
For example:
Q) "What were you doing at 7.30 last night?" A) "I was watching television."
The past continuous can also be used to show that an activity frequently took place over a period of time.
Q) "What did you do on holiday?" A) "I went skiing a lot."
Often the past continuous is mixed with the past simple to show what was happening when something happened. The past continuous refers to the longer event and the simple past to the event that interrupted it.
For example:
"I was driving to work when I crashed my car."
or
As I was driving to work, I crashed my car."
Q) "What were they doing yesterday?" A) "They were working all day."
It can be used to describe what someone was doing at a particular point in time.
For example:
Q) "What were you doing at 7.30 last night?" A) "I was watching television."
The past continuous can also be used to show that an activity frequently took place over a period of time.
Q) "What did you do on holiday?" A) "I went skiing a lot."
Often the past continuous is mixed with the past simple to show what was happening when something happened. The past continuous refers to the longer event and the simple past to the event that interrupted it.
For example:
"I was driving to work when I crashed my car."
or
As I was driving to work, I crashed my car."
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