Past Continuous: Positive Sentences

To form past continuous sentences we use the past form of be with the -ing form of the main verb:

I was watching TV when I heard a noise.
You were talking to them.
He was reading the news.
She was calling her customers to inform them about our new offer.
It was raining all night.
We were thinking about introducing a new product.
They were working on a new app.

We use the past continuous tense talk about something that was happening around a particular time in the past

I was having lunch at 12 o’clock.

We also use the past continuous to:

– describe something that was in progress when another action in the past happened
We were playing a board game when the phone rang.

– describe something that continued for some time in the past, for example in the background
When I woke up birds were singing and the sun was shining.

– describe something that was happening again and again
They were meeting every day.
I was walking to work because my car was broken.

– show change or growth
The company was making more and more money.
People were buying more and more products each month.

– describe a temporary state in the past
I was doing a course for a few weeks.