The Past Continuous

The Past Continuous

The Past Continuous отвечает на вопрос: "Что был делающим?"

Употребление:

1) Говорим о действии которое продолжалось в определенный момент в прошлом (при выяснении того, чем занимался человек в определенный промежуток времени)

What were you doing between 8 and 9 last Sunday?

I was eating breakfast.

I was swimming in the pool at 4 о 'clock this morning. I couldn 't sleep.

We were waiting in the blistering cold when he finally arrived.

What were yon doing at 7:30 on Thursday evening?

I wasn't doing anything wrong. I was reading an encyclopedia.

I was killing mosquitoes at 2 о 'clock in the morning.

This time yesterday we were playing pool in my mansion.

2) Говорим о фоновом действии, когда в предложении есть два одновременных действия в прошлом, одно из

которых процесс, а другое действие вторгается в этот процесс.

The telephone rang when we were watching TV.

While we were driving from Rome to Milan, our bus broke down.

I saw my school teacher when he was standing in the rain as a sandwich-man.

He stepped on his glasses as he was looking for them.

3) Употребляется в художественном тексте описательного характера

I was driving now through the narrow dirty streets of the eastern suburbs of Cairo. I didn't know precisely where I was going.