Past continuous tense

How to form the past continuous in English

The past continuous tense is also sometimes called the past progressive.

Structure of past continuous
positive	negative	question
I was reading a book. He was reading a book. She was reading a book. It was raining.	I wasn’t reading a book. He wasn’t reading a book. She wasn’t reading a book. It wasn’t raining.	Was I reading a book? Was he reading a book? Was she reading a book? Was it raining?
You were reading a book. We were reading a book. They were reading a book.	You weren’t reading a book. We weren’t reading a book. They weren’t reading a book.	Were you reading a book? Were we reading a book? Were they reading a book?

Past continuous – common mistakes
Common mistakes	Correct version	Why?
I waiting for him almost two hours.	I was waiting for him almost two hours.	To form the past continuous we use was/were + verb (-ing).
What did he doing when you saw him?	What was he doing when you saw him?	To form the past continuous we use was/were + verb (-ing).
We were playing tennis every morning.	We played tennis every morning.	We mostly use the past simple tense (we played) for repeated actions in the past.
They watched TV when I came.	They were watching TV when I came.	We use the past continuous when we want to say what was happening (what was in progress) at a particular time in the past.