-We use TPCT to talk about an action in progress at a specific time in the past
Past ———–|—————————–|———–|——————–|—————————–Future
9 o’clock Now
We were drinking coffee at 9 o’clock.
I was tidying my room this time yesterday morning.
-We use TPCT and The Simple Past in one sentence when a shorter action (the simple past) interrupted a longer action (the past continuous tense).
Past————-|———————————–|————————————Future
The alarm clock Now
rang
was sleeping
I was sleeping when the alarm clock rang.
When the alarm clock rang, I was sleeping.
(I was in the middle of action. Then the alarm clock rang.)
-We don’t use the past continuous tense when one event followed another.
Past—————————–|——————————————————-|——Future
Now
I woke up
The alarm clock rang
I woke up when the alarm clock rang.
I washed my face when I had brekfast.
-When one event interrupt another, we can use “when” before the simple past or “while/as” before the past continuous tense.
William was fishing when he fell into the water.
As/while William was fishing, he fell into the water.
-We use the past continuous with while, to talk about two actions in progress of the same time in the past.
Past——————————————————————————–|—————-Future
Now
was peeling
was crying
While Jane was peeling the onions, she was crying.
We were watching TV while he was sleeping.
-We don’t use the past continuous tense with non-action verbs.
She knew the answers.
-We use the past continuous tense with “always, constantly, continuously, steadily,” when we want to express our anger, annoyance of the action.
Our neighbour was always listening loud music while I was studying vocabulary.
İngilizce past continuous tense konu anlatımı kısa şekliyle anlatılmıştır.
