For example, “she began laughing” is the past simple because the main verb is the past form of “begin.”. To turn it into the past continuous, you need to say “she was beginning to laugh” or “she was laughing.”. 4. Passive voice. A past continuous sentence sometimes also uses a passive voice rather than an active voice.
Choice 2: while + past continuous. Example: While I was walking to the train station, you called me. If the “while clause” comes first, we separate it from the short action with a comma (,) or we change the order: You called me while I was walking to the train station. Summary: Use “ while ” before the past continuous. Contrast the use between Past Simple and Past Continuous the affirmative, negative and interrogative form Past Simple. The past tenses are essential because they describe actions that took place in our lives. The past simple is used to talk about finished actions in the past. Examples: I traveled to Cancun last summer. Uses of Past Continuous Tense. We use past continuous tense to express such event that was occurring in the past at a specific time. Examples: At 10:00 p.m., I was watching television. They were playing football at 9:00 a.m. this morning. At 7:00 p.m., my mother was going to the temple. These were unfinished or incomplete actions which were happening continuously in the past when another action interrupted it. The past continuous tense can also refer to a habitual action in the past. E.g. –. She was interfering in everyone’s lives. The past continuous tense is also known as the past progressive tense.