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Intermediate

Past Continuous

Actions in progress at a past moment

Form: was/were + verb-ing

Use was with I/he/she/it and were with you/we/they.

💬 Examples
I was reading when she called.
was reading = longer background action
📝 was + reading
They were sleeping.
were + sleeping for you we they
📝 were + sleeping
Use past continuous for a background action

The continuous action was interrupted by a shorter one.

💬 Examples
I was cooking when the phone rang.
cooking was interrupted by the phone
📝 was cooking = background
It was raining all morning.
continuous action over a period
📝 extended action in the past
Two parallel past actions use past continuous

When two long actions happened at the same time.

💬 Examples
While I was studying she was cooking.
two long actions at the same time
📝 both continuous
He was talking while she was writing.
both happening simultaneously
📝 simultaneous past actions