English Grammar in Use · Murphy

Intermediate Grammar

Master English grammar one unit at a time. Clear notes, then 40+ interactive exercises with instant feedback – based on the topics in English Grammar in Use (Intermediate).

UNIT 1

Continuous or simple?

Present perfect cont.

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UNIT 10

Perfect: cont. or simple?

Future: present tenses

Future: will / going to

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UNIT 24

Future cont. & perfect

Must / mustn’t / needn’t

Had better / It’s time

If I knew / I wish I knew

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UNIT 40

If I had known / I wish I had known

Verb + -ing or to … 1

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UNIT 57

Verb + -ing or to … 2

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UNIT 6 · Intermediate · B1–B2

Past Continuous“I was doing” – 44 interactive questions

Correct answers

🎉 Brilliant! You finished all 44 questions of Unit 6!

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Video lesson – coming soon

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📖 Grammar Reference – Past Continuous

Study the notes, then work through the six exercises.

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What you’ll learnPast continuous for background scenes, ongoing past events & interruptions

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~20 min4-Tier notes + 4 exercises (6.1–6.4)

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25 questionsInstant automated feedback

1 Tier 1 – The Concept & Nuance: In the Middle of Doing Something in the Past

The past continuous (was / were + verb-ing) describes an ongoing action that was in progress at a specific past moment or while another event occurred.

⏳ Point in Past Time

– “This time last year, I was living in Brazil.”
– “What were you doing at 10:30 last night?”

⚡ Interruption (While vs When)

– “I was walking home when I met Dave.”
– “The phone rang while we were having dinner.”

2 Tier 2 – Past Continuous vs Past Simple in Narrative

I was doing (Continuous)	Background ongoing action (in progress): “I was walking* in the park.”*
I did (Past Simple)	Completed incident (started & finished): “I slipped and fell.”

3 Tier 3 – Top 3 Common Learner Pitfalls

✗ ~~When the teacher entered, the students talked.~~ (talking in progress)

✓ When the teacher entered, the students were talking.

– Rule: The ongoing activity already underway takes the past continuous.

✗ ~~While I was at school, I was knowing all the teachers.~~

✓ While I was at school, I knew all the teachers.

– Rule: Stative verbs (know, understand, remember) never take continuous tenses.

✗ ~~We was having lunch when the power cut off.~~

✓ We were having lunch when the power cut off.

– Rule: Plural subject we takes were, not was.

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Tier 4 – Interactive Practice: Test your past continuous narrative mastery in Exercises 6.1–6.4 below!

Made with care for English learners · allenglish4u.com
Original practice material inspired by the English Grammar in Use syllabus (Cambridge University Press). Example sentences and exercises are written by All English 4U.