Part 1
It was a beautiful day yesterday. I was running in the park at 9 am. The sun was shining and the birds were singing while I was running and enjoying myself. I felt invigorated when I came back home. I started reading my book.
I was reading the book on my e-reader when out of the blue, I heard a loud, banging noise. I jumped to my feet and ran away in the direction of the noise. When I opened the door of the room, my eyes became as big as apples… When I was entering the room, at that very moment, a brick was flying to the window, hitting and smashing the glass into pieces. I screamed and ran out of the room to see what was happening outside. I was shaking like a leaf. Nobody was outside. I talked to my neighbor. He didn’t see anyone…He was always talking on the phone. No wonder, he didn’t notice anything. He was busy…
I. Retell the story
II. Do the grammar exercises from the pdf file
III. Stay tuned for the second part of the story**************
Past Continuous
I was running at 9 am yesterday.
We use Past Continuous:
1. for an action which was in progress at a particular time in the past. We do not know when the action started or finished.
e.g. I was running at 9 am yesterday. (It’s not clear when I started and when I finished running. We only know that at 9 am yesterday, at that time, I was in the middle of running)
Analogy between Present Continuous and Past Continuous
Continuous tenses express unfinished action. The action is in progress at a specific time.
Present Continuous – something which is happening at the moment, at the present moment. The activity is not finished. You are in the middle of doing something. The activity is in progress in the present time.
Past Continuous - something which was happening at a specific moment in the past. The activity was not finished. You were in the middle of doing something. The activity was in progress in the past time.
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I was reading a book on my e-reader when I heard a loud, banging noise.
We use Past Continuous:
2. For a past action which was in progress when another action interrupted it. We use Past Continuous for the action in progress (the longer action) and Past Simple for the action which interrupted it (the shorter action)
e.g. I was reading a book on my e-reader when I heard a loud, banging noise. (was reading = longer action; heard = shorter action)
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The sun was shining and the birds were singing while I was running in the park.
We use Past Continuous:
3. For two or more actions which were happening at the same time in the past (simultaneous actions)
e.g.
The sun was shining and the birds were singing while I was running in the park.
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He was always talking on the phone.
We use Past Continuous:
4. with a word like always or constantly when there is criticism or complaint:
e.g. He was always talking on the phone.
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