Czasu Past Continuous używamy:
- chcąc podkreślić fakt, że dane czynności trwały przez pewien dłuższy okres:
- He was working the whole day yesterday.
- It was snowing all day yesterday.
- We were preparing for the test the whole week.
- mówiąc o czynnościach w czasie przeszłym, które trwały już od pewnego okresu:
- At 5 pm he was watching a match.
- At that time yesterday I was ironing.
- The child was having a bath at 7 pm.
- mówiąc o czynnościach przeszłych, które były tłem wydarzeń dla innych czynności wyrażonych za pomocą Past Simple:
- She was eating lunch when the phone rang.
- They were playing when their mother came.
- While I was learning English, the doorbell rang.
- mówiąc o dwóch czynnościach przeszłych rozgrywających się w tym samym czasie:
- While I was watching TV, my brother was playing.
- While she was trying to concentrate, her little sister was disturbing her.
- While her mother was tidying the flat, her father was cleaning the car.
Konstrukcja:
podmiot + to be w czasie przeszłym + imiesłów czynny + reszta zdania
Odmiana czasowników w czasie Past Continuous na przykładzie give | ||||||
forma twierdząca | forma przecząca | forma pytająca | ||||
I | was giving | I | was not (wasn’t) giving | Was | I | giving? |
you | were giving | you | were not (weren’t) giving | Were | you | giving? |
he | was giving | he | was not (wasn’t) giving | Was | he | giving? |
she | she | she | ||||
it | it | it | ||||
we | were giving | we | were not (weren’t) giving | Were | we | giving? |
you | you | you | ||||
they | they | they |
Okoliczniki czasu Past Continuous: while (podczas gdy), the whole day yesterday (cały wczorajszy dzień), the whole week / month (cały tydzień / miesiąc):
While I was taking a bath, my dog was waiting and barking at the bathroom door.
I was expecting you the whole day yesterday. Why didn’t you come?