The past continuous refers to an action (or event) that started before now and was ongoing when something else happened – e.g. I was reading when you called. The formula is: subject + was/were + verb with ‘-ing’. Signal words for this tense include when and while. Affirmative sentences in the past continuous tense. The affirmative past continuous tense is composed of the 2nd form of the verb „to be“ and the verb in its basic form with the suffix – ing. While in the past simple we do not distinguish between a person or the number of subjects, in the past continuous tense it is different. The video " 'When' & 'While' with Past Simple & Past Continuous Tenses English grammar lesson " has been published on January 25 2016. Past Perfect Continuous Examples in Songs! The video " Past Perfect Continuous Examples in Songs! " has been published on November 9 2012. Mixed Past Tenses - Mr. Bean at the Hospital. Past Continuous Mixed Exercise 1. This past continuous tense (sometimes called the past progressive) exercise includes the positive, negative and question forms. Click here to review how to make the past continuous . Click here to download this exercise in PDF (with answers) 9. Doo Wah Diddy - Manfred Mann. You might not recognise the name Manfred Mann but this English band had a few well-known hits in the 1960’s. In this song the past continuous is used throughout which shows that the woman in the song was doing all the actions at the same time. Past Continuous Tense – Negative Subject + Was/Were + Not + Verb (Ist form) + Ing + Object + (.) In Past Continuous Negative sentence, 'Not' is added just before 'Verb (Ist form)'. 'Ing' is added with first form of Verb in all types of sentences of Past Continuous tense. Negative: They were not studying when she called. We can use the past simple and the past continuous in the same sentence structure with different meanings: The past simple describes when the action started: "At 7am, I went to work." This means that the journey to work began at 7am. The past continuous describes an action that was already in progress: "At 7am, I was going to work." progress at or around a fixed time in the past. d _____ to describe past states. e _____ to tell stories. f _____ to set the scene in a story or give background information. g _____ to describe regular events in the past. 17 Now match the sentences to the functions in Exercise 16, including the examples. cPJZ.