PAST PROGRESSIVE: кратко

Past Continuous (Progressive) Tense: Use and Form**
Прошедшее продолженное время: использование и форма

Форма: вспомогательный глагол to be и причастие I
в форме Past Simple

was / were + doing/writing/going etc.

Утверждение I was speaking on the phone now.
It was raining.
He was reading a newspaper.
They were playing tennis.

Вопрос Were you speaking on the phone?
Was it raining?
Was he reading a newspaper?
Were they playing tennis?

Отрицание I was not (I wasn’t not) speaking on the phone.
It was not(wasn’t) raining.
He was not(wasn’t) reading a newspaper now.
The were not (weren’t)playing tennis.

Were you having lunch ? – No, I was not having lunch. I was reading a magazine.

*** Не употребляются в Past Continuous глаголы, обозначающие чувственное и умственное восприятие:

hear like hate prefer know remember understand own forget need possess see love want mean realize

Случаи употребления:
1. Действие, происходившее в определенный момент или период времени в прошлом.
I was sleeping at 3 o’clock yesterday.
My father was still working when I came home.
We were preparing for the exam from 2 to 5 p.m.
He said that she was reading “War and Peace”.
They were building a new bridge in Turkey that summer.
2. Повторяющееся действие в негативно окрашенных предложениях
You were always losing your things!
She was talking about her neighbours all the time!