Past continuous ( I was doing ) Exercises

UNIT 12 Exercises

12.1   Here is a list of some things that Ann did yesterday (and the times at which she did them):

1.  8:45-9:15  had breakfast                              4.  12:45-1:30 had lunch

2.  9:15-10:00 read the newspaper                  5.  2:30-3:30 washed some clothes

3.  10:00 12:00 cleaned her apartment           6.  4:00-6:00 watched TV

Now write sentences saying what she was doing at these times:

1. At 9:00 she was having breakfast.                4. At 1:00__________________________________

2. At 9:30 she________________________________        5. At 3:00__________________________________

3. At 11:00____________________________________       6. At 5:00__________________________________


12.2   A group of people were staying in a hotel. One evening the fire alarm went off. Use the words in parentheses to make sentences saying what each person was doing at the time.
Example: (Don/take/a bath) Don was taking a bath

1.  (Ann/write/a letter in her room)  Ann________________________________________________

2.  (George/get/to go out) George____________________________________________

3.  (Carol and Dennis/have/dinner) Carol and Dennis____________________________________________

4.  (Tom/make/a phone call) Tom_____________________________________________


12.3   Make sentences from the words in parentheses. Put the verbs into the correct form: simple past (I did) or past continuous (I was doing).

Example: (I/fall/asleep when I/watch/TV).  I fell asleep when I was watching TV

1.  (the phone /ring/while I/ take a shower)   The phone_______________________________________

2.  (it/begin/to rain while I/walk home)    __________________________________________________

3.  (we/see/an accident while we/wait/for the bus)_________________________________________________


12.4  Put the verb into the correct form: past continuous or simple past.

Example: While Tom was caaking. (cook) dinner, the phone_____________(ring)

1.  George_____________(fall) off the ladder while he________________(paint) the ceiling.

2.  Last night I____________(read) in bed when suddenly I______________(hear) a scream.

3.  __________________(you/watch) TV when I called you?

4.  Ann______________(wait) for me when I______________arrive

5.  I___________________(not/drive) very fast when the accident_________________(happen)

6.  I________________(break) a plate last night. I_________________(wash) the dishes when it (slip) out of my hand.

7.  Tom_________________(take) a picture of me while I_________________(not/look)

8.  We________________(not/go) out because it________________(rain)

9.  What_________________(you/do) at this time yesterday?

10.  I___________________(see) Carol at the party. She________________(wear) a new dress.

Past Continuous ( I was doing )

UNIT 12

A.  Study this example situation:
Yesterday Dave and Jim played tennis. They began at 10:00 and finished at 11:00.

What were they doing at 10:30?
They were playing tennis (at 10:30).

"They were playing" means that they were in the middle of playing tennis. They had started playing, but they hadn't finished.

This is the past continuous tense:

I/he/she                  was     }    playing
we/they/you         were    }    playing
 

We use the past continuous to say that someone was in the middle of doing something at
a certain time. The action or situation had already started before this time but hadn't finished:

• This time last year I was living in Brazil.

• What were you doing at last night?

B.  The past continuous not tell us whether an action was finished or not. Perhaps it was finished, perhaps not. Compare:

• Dan was cooking dinner. (past continuous) = He was in the middle of cooking dinner and we don't know whether he finished cooking it.

• Dan cooked dinner. (simple past) He began and finished it.

C.  We often use the past continuous (I was doing) and the simple past (I did) together to say that something happened in the middle of something else:

• Dan burned his hand while he was cooking dinner.

• I saw Jim in the park. He was sitting on the grass and reading a book.

• It was raining when I got up.

• While I was working in the garden, I hurt my back.

But to say that one thing happened after another, use the simple past.

• Last night Sue was taking when the phone rang. She got out of the bathtub and answered the phone.

Compare:

• When Helen arrived, we were having dinner. (past continuous)= We had already started dinner before Helen arrived.

• When Helen arrived, we had dinner. (simple past)= Helen arrived and then we had dinner.