Grammar:
past
Confinuous
Topic: Past experiences
lllustrative Situations
Yesterday Karen and
Jim
played
tennis.
They
began
at l0 o'clock
and fin-
ished at
I1.30.
So,
at 10.30 theywere
playng
tennis.
They were
playrng
:
they
were in the
middle of
playing.
They
had not fin-
ished
playing.
All day
long
yesterday
I
was busy.
I
was
repairing my car.
We didn't
go
out last Saturday. The whole
day we were working in the
gar-
den.
This time
last
year
I was
living
in Brazil.
I waved to Helen, but she
wasn't looking.
As I was
going
to the
station, I met a friend.
While I was waiting
at the bus stop, three buses went
by in the opposite direc-
tion.
While
the children
were
playing,
Mrs Smith was
talking to her neighbour.
When I was
going
to the beach, I met Mike with
his
girlfriend.
It was raining
when I
got
up.
I didn't
hear
your question
because
I was listening
to a colleague.
I saw
you
in the
park yesterday.
You were sitting on
the
grass
tt6 lsading a
book.
Were
you
eating when
I
phoned?
What
were
youdoing
at l0 o'clock last night?
Who
was he waiting
for at the bus stop at 6.00?
So what were
we talking about?
Who
was waiting
for
you
at the bus stop?
t92
Practice
1. Study and
practise.
l. A: I saw
you yesterday,
but
you
didn't
see me.
B:Really?
When?
A:
At about 2.30.
You were walking into the
post
office.
B: That wasn't me.
Yesterday at2.30I was fixing
my car.
A: I
guess
I made a mistake.
2. A: You look upset.
B: Yes. I had a
bad day today.
A: Why? What happened?
B: I burned
myself
while I was cooking dinner.
A: I'm
sorry
to hear that.
(How
awful!)
3. Miss Henderson usually teaches very ryell,
but she
didn't
teach very well
this morning. In fact, she taught very badly. While
she was teaching, her su-
pervisor
was
sitting at the back of the room and watciling her. It was
alvexy
diffrcult experience for Miss Henderson.
She realized she wasn't teaching
very well, but she couldn't do anything about it.
She was
too neryous.
4. Yesterday I
went
for
a walk in the
park.
While I was there,
I saw lots of
children who were
playing.
There
was
a
man who was walking his dogs.
He
was throwing sticks and the dogs were running
to catch them. A
gardener
was
planting
some flowers and some old ladies were sitti4g
on
a
park
bench en-
joyrng
the warm sunshine. It was lovely.
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Compare the
past
continuous
(I
was
doing)
and
past
simple
(I
diit):
Pqst
Continuous
(in
the middle of an Past
Simple
(complete
action)
action)
.
I was walking home when I met
Dave.
(in
the
middle
of an action)
.
Kate was watching television when
we arrived.
.
When Karen arrived, we were hav-
ing dinner.
(:
we had already
started before she
arrived)
.
I walked home after
the
puty
hst
night.
(:
all the way, completely)
.
Kate
watched television a lot vlhen
she was ill last
year.
.
When Karen arrive4
we had din-
ner.
(:
Karen arrive4 and then rnrc
had dirmer)
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7 3aK.2510 193