Past Continuous Tense Overview
The past continuous is used to talk about an action or situation that was going on around a particular past time.
- It was raining.
- The dogs were barking.
- The child was playing with her toys.
- The mother was rocking the baby to sleep.
- You were just wasting your time.
- I was doing my homework.
We make the past continuous form by putting was or were before the ing form of the verb.
When to use was
Use was when the subject is a singular noun (eg. Ravi, Rani, book, child) or pronoun (he, she, it, I)
- I was singing and she was dancing.
- He was having his breakfast.
- It was getting late.
- Saju was playing chess with his brother.
When to use were
Use were when the subject is a plural noun (eg. children, toys, books, companies) or pronoun (you, we, they)
- The children were working on a project.
- The kites were flying in the sky.
- They were waiting for the results.