The Past Continuous Tense "I was doing..."
Think of this tense as the video background of a story. While the Simple Past takes a photo 📸 (finished action), the Past Continuous plays a video 🎥 (action in progress).
Simple Past
"I ate pizza."
Finished. Done.
Past Continuous
"I was eating pizza."
Happening for a while.
🧪 The Formula Lab
Building sentences is like mixing potions. You need three ingredients: Subject + Helper (Was/Were) + Action (-ing). Experiment below!
Final Sentence
I was sleeping.
Pro Tip: was is for singular subjects (I, He, She, It). were is for plural subjects (You, We, They). Note: 'You' is always treated as plural in grammar!
🎬 The Three Movie Scenes
When do we use this tense? Visualize time flowing from left to right. Select a scenario to see how the "camera" captures the action.
X Axis = Time (Hours) | Y Axis = Actions
🚫 The "Statue" Verbs
Some verbs describe a state (feelings, thoughts, possession), not an action. Statues don't move, and neither do these verbs!
❌ Don't say:
"I was knowing the answer."
✅ Do say (Simple Past):
"I knew the answer."
Click to check if it's a Stative Verb:
🏆 The Time Traveler's Challenge
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