Past Continuous Tense Examples - Understand with Examples | Testbook.com

Definition of Past Continuous Tense

The past continuous tense is a grammatical term used to describe actions that were ongoing at a certain time in the past. For instance, consider the sentence, "John was reading a book." Here, 'was reading' signifies an activity that John was engaged in at a certain time in the past.

Illustrations of Past Continuous Tense

To help you grasp the concept better, here are some examples of past continuous tense.

A Compilation of Past Continuous Tense Examples

• The birds were singing in the morning.
• We were playing chess yesterday.
• She was cooking when I arrived.
• I was watching a movie last night.
• He was running in the park when he saw a squirrel.
• The audience was clapping as the singer came on stage.
• The dog was chasing its tail.
• The teacher was explaining the concept to the students.
• The kids were playing in the park.
• My parents were shopping in the mall.
• She was painting a beautiful landscape.
• They were discussing the new project.
• I was listening to my favourite song.
• The cat was sleeping on the couch.
• We were waiting for the bus.

Forming the Past Continuous Tense

Understanding how to form a tense is crucial in learning it. Therefore, let's take a look at the structure of a sentence in the past continuous tense.

Subject + Was/Were + Verb in its ‘ing’ form + Object/Adjunct

For instance, consider the sentence, “My sister was baking a cake yesterday.” Here, the subject is ‘my sister’, used with 'was', and the 'ing' form of the verb, which is 'baking'.