Simple and Continuous: Usage

View

Now that we know how to form the simple past tense and past continuous tense in the affirmative, negative, and interrogative, let's look at how they are different from each other when using them in sentences.

Using the Present Continuous Tense

  1. Meaning

In English, speakers and writers use the present continuous or progressive tense to describe actions and situations that are in progress or happening right now.

Action

Sentence Examples

parallel or overlapping

(Something happening at a time in the past while something else was happening or when another action interrupted it).

You were reading about the past continuous while your friend was watching TV.

She was reading about the past continuous when her phone rang.

in progress at a point in time

(Something continuing for a period around a specific time in the past).

I was listening to you the whole time.


The video below reviews the use of present continuous tense.


  1. Signal Words

Signal words for the past continuous are used to link two actions taking place in a given situation in the past. Or, they can show that another action interrupts the continuous action. These words can come at the beginning of a sentence or in the middle of a sentence to create complex sentences.

  • as
  • when
  • while

Examples:

As my husband was washing the dishes, I was baking a cake.

His sister was talking on the phone when someone knocked at her door.

Now that we know how to choose between the past simple and continuous to share our thoughts in English, let’s put our knowledge into practice.

Source: Saylor Academy; videos from Teacher Jake, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dDO7cKIS_0
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.