Study this example situation:
Yesterday Karen and Jim 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 playing.
Was/were – ing is the past continuous:
I was doing something = I was in the middle of doing something at a certain time. The action or situation had already started before this time, but had not finished:
This time last year I was living in Brazil.
What were you doing at 10 o’clock last night?
I waved to Helen, but she wasn’t looking.
Compare the past continuous (I was doing) and past simple (I did):
| Past continuous (in the middle of an action) | Past simple (complete action) |
| I was walking home when I met Dan. | I walked home after the party last night. (= all the way, completely) |
| Kate was watching TV when we arrived. | Kate watched television a lot when she was ill last year. |
We often use the past simple and the past continuous together to say that something happened in the middle of something else:
- Matt phoned while we were having dinner.
- It was raining when I got up
- I saw you in the park yesterday. You were sitting on the grass and reading a book.
- I hurt my back while I was working in the garden.
But we use the past simple to say that one thing happened after another:
- I was walking along the road when I saw Dan. So I stopped, and we had a chat.
Compare:
| When Karen arrived, we were having dinner. (= we had already started before she arrived) | When Karen arrived, we had dinner. (= Karen arrived, and then we had dinner) |
Some verbs (for example, know and want) are not normally used in the continuous
- We were good friends. We knew each other well. (not We
were knowing) - I was enjoying the party, but Chris wanted to go home. (not
was wanting)
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