 Hello everyone, this is Mr. P on today's lesson. We're going to look at the past continuous also called the past Progressive like in my examples. They were sleeping in class. Hmm She was not paying attention Were you cooking when I called you Okay, so let's get started. First of all, let's look at the timeline Okay, we have the horizontal line on the left Representing the past and on the right the future then the vertical line Represents now so you will find the past Continuous or the past progressive in the past not with just one star But with at least three stars that means that it happened continuously in the past So when do we use it? It is used to describe actions that began in the past and often Continued for a short period of time after the the the action started So it happened continuously in the past We do not normally use it with state of verbs such as Need be like love, etc So it's impossible to say something like we were needing something. No, that's wrong Because need is a state of verb So, how is it formed? First of all as I told you before We need a helping verb here and we need it in every tense so the auxiliary verb or helping verb in this case is be but is Is in the past so is the past of the verb to be and is was or where so I Was you Were he she eat was We were They Were very good. Okay, so let's start with a positive sentence So the formula is the subject plus HV for a helping verb so was aware then an ING verb The main verb would be Plus the object plus the time expression for example like in these two examples I Was taking notes Okay, I was taking notes or They were working last week. They were working last week So we have a negative sentence We need the subject so the subject as I told you before Could be a noun or pronoun plus The helping verb plus not because it's negative Plus the main verb I and G verb Plus the object and then maybe the time expression So for example, he wasn't or he was not taking notes He was not taking notes They weren't or they were not sleeping in class So they were not sleeping in class Now what happens with questions interrogative? so with questions if you have or if you need we need the WH question word like Who how where when etc then the helping verb we said that it was was or where Then we need the subject Plus I and G verb And then something else for example the object of the time expression if you have it Were you taking notes? Were you taking notes? Was she phoning someone was she phoning someone? Okay, so that's the three different sentences that we can have with the Past continuous or past progressive so time expressions and adverb adverbs of time that we need with the Past continuous or past progressive so when as While as and while they are almost the same a certain time specified for example yesterday at 9 a.m. or Last week on Sunday or three years ago in May so These are just some examples, but there are so many so Time expressions or adverbs of time So let's compare and this is the most important part of the lesson We have to compare the past continuous with the simple past or past simple so for the past continuous when do we use it for Interrupted actions to describe parallel actions and background actions. So Things that happened continuously in the past Instead the simple past we use it for completed actions habits and facts in the in the past Short actions so long and short actions. Maybe that will help you So the helping verb that we need for the past continuous is was aware For the simple past is did but pay close attention here. We use did for Questions and for negative sentences only For the simple past and we're still talking about the simple past for a positive sentence we need the verb which is regular or irregular if It's regular you need to add Ed to the verb if it's irregular you need to learn the new verb. Okay, so Pay close attention to the simple past. I Said you need the helping verb for Questions or negative sentences only for positive sentences you need the verb in the Past obviously we're talking about the past It can be regular or irregular Instead for the past continuous we need we must use the helping verb always plus the verb ing verb, okay, so ing is It goes along with the helping verb everywhere for negative sentences Questions and positive sentences These tenses are usually used together to show sequence of events So you will find the past continuous and the simple past together in a sentence and I'm going to show you some examples The children were playing in the park when it started to rain Okay, so they were playing so this is continuous Long time we can say more or less and then Started to rain like right there is started to rain. I was watching a movie When I noticed him standing outside Sorry, I Was watching a movie when I noticed him outside standing outside. I Saw a famous celebrity when I was shopping on Oxford Street So something happened and then while I was doing something else She was drinking too much so she fell Okay, so now we're going to do some exercise. So let's practice Pause the video and complete the sentences Then I'll give you the key now that you have completed the sentences. Here is your key. I Was sitting in a cafe when you called when you arrived at the party who was there Susie was watching a film when she heard the noise What were they doing at 10 p.m. Last night? It was really noisy He was in the shower when the telephone rang When I walked into the room Everyone was working. He was living in Russia when the revolution started So that's it for this lesson. If you have any questions, please Type them under the video. So if you haven't subscribed to my channel, please do Please click on the like button if you liked it and then share it Until next time. Bye. Bye