📚 Grammar Tip — The Past Continuous

Use the past continuous to describe a certain period of time in the past. Form: was/were + verb-ing.

▸ Present: I am working. · Past: I was working.

▸ Present: She is taking a test. · Past: She was taking a test.

Make the negative with not after the be-verb.

▸ I was not talking on the phone. · You were not playing computer games.

while + past continuous — describes an ongoing action (time clause).
when + simple past — describes a completed action.

▸ I was taking a shower when you called me. (main clause / time clause)
▸ When you called me, I was taking a shower. (time clause / main clause)