A.
Study this example situation:
Yesterday Karen and Jim played tennis. They
began 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/he/she/it was playing/doing/working etc.
we/you/they were playing/doing/working etc.
B. We
use the past continuous to say that somebody 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 her but she wasn't looking.
C.
Compare the past continuous (I was doing) and past simple (I did):
Past
continuous (in the middle of an action)
* I was
walking home when I met Dave. (= in the middle of walking home)
* Ann
was watching television when the phone rang.
Past
simple (complete action)
* I
walked home after the party last night. (= all the way, completely)
* Ann
watched television a lot when she was ill last year.
D. We
often use the past simple and the past continuous together to say that
something happened in the middle of something else:
* Tom
burnt his hand when he was cooking the dinner.
* I saw
you in the park yesterday. You were sitting on the grass and reading a book.
* While
I was working in the garden, I hurt my back.
But we
use the past simple to say that one thing happened after another:
* I was
walking along the road when I saw Dave. So I stopped and we had a chat.
Compare:
* When
Karen arrived, we were having dinner. (= We had already started dinner before
Karen arrived.)
* When
Karen arrived, we had dinner. (= First Karen arrived and then we had
dinner.)
E.
There are some verbs (for example, know/want/believe) that 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')
