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What is Grammar?
English Grammar Terms
The 8 English Parts of
Speech
These are the words that you use to make a sentence.
There are only
8 types of word - and the most
important is the Verb!
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Verbs |
be, have, do, work |
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Nouns |
man, town, music |
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Adjectives |
a, the, 69, big |
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Adverbs |
loudly, well, often |
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Pronouns |
you, ours, some |
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Prepositions |
at, in, on, from |
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Conjunctions |
and, but, though |
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Interjections |
ah, dear, er, um |
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Hot Links
Verbs
Passive voice
Modal verbs
Conditionals
Questions
Irregular
verbs
Going to
Gerunds
Phrasal Verbs
Tenses
Nouns
(Un) Countable nouns
Adjectives
Articles
Pronouns
Preposition List
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| Grammar Quizzes
Parts of Speech Quiz
Verb Classification Quiz
Main Verb Forms Quiz
Active or Passive Quiz
Subjunctive Quiz
Future Time Quiz
Continuous Tense Verb
Quiz
Used to do or Be used to
Quiz
Have to,
Must, Must not Quiz
Can, Could, Be able
to Quiz
Questions Quiz
Tag Questions
Quiz
Infinitive or
-ing Quiz
Gerunds Quiz
Phrasal Verbs
Quiz
Conditionals Quiz
For or Since Quiz
Present Simple
Present Continuous
Present Perfect
Simple
Present Perfect
Continuous
Past Simple
Questions
Comparative
Adjectives
Superlative
Adjectives
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How do we use the Past Continuous Tense?
The past continuous tense expresses action at a particular
moment in the past. The action started before that moment but has not
finished at that moment. For example, yesterday I watched a film on TV. The
film started at 7pm and finished at 9pm.
| At 8pm yesterday,
I was watching TV. |
| past |
present |
future |
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| At 8pm, I was in the middle of watching
TV. |
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When we use the past continuous tense, our listener usually knows
or understands what time we are talking about. Look at these examples:
- I was working at 10pm last night.
- They were not playing football at 9am this
morning.
- What were you doing at 10pm last night?
- What were you doing when he arrived?
- She was cooking when I telephoned her.
- We were having dinner when it started to rain.
- Ram went home early because it was snowing.
We often use the past continuous tense to "set the scene" in
stories. We use it to describe the background situation at the moment when the
action begins. Often, the story starts with the past continuous tense and then
moves into the simple past tense. Here is an example:
" James Bond was driving through town. It was
raining. The wind was blowing hard. Nobody was walking in the
streets. Suddenly, Bond saw the killer in a telephone box..."
Past
continuous tense + simple past tense >> |
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