Past Continuous
Grammar
You can say that something happened (past simple) in the middle of something else (past continuous):
Matt phoned while we were having dinner.
It was raining when I got up.
I saw you in the park yesterday. You were sitting on the grass and reading a book.
I hurt my back while I was working in the garden.
But we use the past simple to say that one thing happened aft er another:
I was walking along the road when I saw Dan. So I stopped, and we talked for a while.
Compare:
When Karen arrived, we were having dinner. (= we had already started before she arrived)
When Karen arrived, we had dinner. (= Karen arrived, and then we had dinner not finished)
Abnormal Continuous Verbs:
Some verbs (for example, know and like) are not normally used in this way. We don’t say ‘I am knowing’, ‘they are liking’. We say ‘I know’, ‘they like’.
The following verbs are not normally used in the present continuous:
like want need prefer know realise understand recognise believe suppose remember mean belong fit contain consist seem
I’m hungry. I want something to eat. (not I’m wanting)
Do you understand what I mean?
Anna doesn’t seem very happy right now.
Exercises
Complete the sentences. Choose from:
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Today Helen is wearing a skirt. Yesterday she was wearing trousers.
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‘What did he say?’ ‘I don’t know. I wasn’t listening.’
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We were sitting at the back of the theatre. We couldn’t hear very well.
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This time last year Steve was working on a farm.
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They didn’t see me. They weren’t looking in my direction.
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The weather was bad. It was very cold and it was snowing.
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I saw you in your car. Where were you going?
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I saw Kate a few minutes ago. She was looking for you.
I saw (see) Sue in town yesterday, but she didn’t see (not/see) me. She was looking (look) the other way.