Past Continuous - I Was Doing

Study this example situation:

Yesterday Karen and Joe played tennis. They started 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

was/were + -ing is the past continuous:

I was doing something = I was in the middle of doing it at a certain time.

The action or situation started before this time, but had not finished:

I started doing                                    I was doing                                    I finished Doing                                                 

        ↓                                                  ↓     ↓    ↓                                                 ↓                                           |  ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

      past                                                                                                            past                                      now

1. This time last year I was living in Hong Kong
2. What were you doing at 10 o’clock last night?
3. I waved to Helen, but she wasn’t looking.

Compare I was doing (past continuous) and I did (past simple):

You can say that something happened (past simple) in the middle of something else (past continuous):

1. Matt phoned while we were having dinner.
2. It was raining when I got up.
3. I saw you in the park yesterday. You were sitting on the grass and reading a book.
4. I hurt my back while I was working in the garden. 

But we use the past simple to say that one thing happened aft er another:

1. I was walking along the road when I saw Dan. So I stopped, and we talked for a while

Compare:

Some verbs (for example, know and want) are not normally used in continuous forms (is + -ing,
was + -ing etc.).

See Unit 4A for a list of these verbs.

1. We were good friends. We knew each other well. (not we were knowing)
2. I was enjoying the party, but Chris wanted to go home. (not was wanting)

Try this exercise to test your grammar.

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