3.We also use this structure when we are expressing an action in progress in the past, and the action intersects or interrupts another. For example: While my brother was watching TV his smartphone ranged. While my brother was watching TV his phone rang. His smartphone rang while he was watching TV > You can reverse the sentence
4.In addition, it helps us describe or narrate events in the past:
Formula in + :
+ POSITIVE
Subject or Personal Pronoun + BE + (verb+ing) + Complement
I was dreaming They were doing an exercise
- NEGATIVE
Subject or Personal Pronoun + BE NOT + (verb+ing) + Complement
I was not dreaming They were not doing an exercise
? QUESTION
BE + Subject or Personal Pronoun +(verb+ing) + Complement+?
Note: When we find a sentence in the past continuous combined with another in the past simple, remember that:
The past continuous is a longer action
The past simple is a short action.
The birds were singing (estancancantan) when I got up (levanté) this morning.
I wasn't watching (was watching) TV when the football match started.
Were you cooking (you were cooking) when the phone rang (rang)?
2.The past progressive is used to describe what was happening at a point in the past while something else was happening. While my brother was studying I was washing the dishes.
1.We use it to describe an action that started at a specific time in the past, continued for a period of time, and finally ended (in the past). It is formed with the verb TO BE in the simple past (was, were) followed by a gerund verb (cooking, studying, going, etc.)
Conjunctions used with the past continuous or progressive
a) while
b) when
c) because
They are used to introduce two actions that coincided in the past: a long action and a short action:
– Normally the longest action is introduced with while.
– The short action is usually introduced by when and interrupts the longer one
