Adults|Grammar|Intermediate|4. I was doing

Read the rules

I was doing something = I was in the middle of doing something at a certain time. The action or situation had already started before this time, but had not finished:

Examples:

1. This time last year I was living in Brazil.

2. What were you doing at 10 o’clock last night?

3. I waved to Helen, but she wasn’t looking.

Compare the past continuous (I was doing) and past simple (I did):

Past continuous (in the middle of an action)

1. I was walking home when I met Dave. (in the middle of an action)

2. Kate was watching television when we arrived.

Past simple (complete action)

1. I walked home after the party last night. (= all the way, completely)

2. Kate watched television a lot when she was ill last year.

Read the rules

We often use the past simple and the past continuous together to say that something happened in the middle of something else:

1. Matt phoned while we were having dinner.

2. It was raining when I got up.

3. I saw you in the park yesterday. You were sitting on the grass and reading a book.

4. I hurt my back while I was working in the garden.

But we use the past simple to say that one thing happened after another:

I was walking along the road when I saw Dave. So I stopped, and we had a chat.

Compare:

1. When Karen arrived, we were having dinner. (= we had already started before she arrived)

2. When Karen arrived, we had dinner. (= Karen arrived, and then we had dinner)

Read the rules

Some verbs (for example, know and want) are not normally used in the continuous (see Lesson 4):

1. We were good friends. We knew each other well. (not We were knowing)

2. I was enjoying the party, but Chris wanted to go home. (not was wanting)

What were you doing at these times? Write sentences as in the examples. The past continuous is not always necessary (see the second example)

Examples:

• I was working.
• I was in bed asleep.
• I was getting ready to go out.
• I was watching TV at home.

Use your own ideas to complete the sentences. Use the past continuous

Examples:

1. … was having a shower
2. … were waiting for the bus
3. … was reading the paper
4. … was watching it

Put the verb into the correct form, past continuous or past simple

Put the verb into the correct form, past continuous or past simple

If you open the lesson plan you will be able to assign separate pages as homework or all the homework pages at once.