Study Resource: Additional examples of the past continuous

In our article on the past continuous in English, we saw that there are some cases where choosing to use the past continuous rather than the past simple will change the literal meaning of a sentence. For example:

• We ate when you arrived. → you arrived, then we ate

• We were eating when you arrived. → you arrived during the eating

But we also saw that there are cases where the literal meaning of a sentence is not changed by the use of past continuous vs. past simple:

So why, in these cases, do English speakers choose to use one over the other?

In conversation, English speakers often choose the past continuous over the past simple in order to imply some contextual information that is not stated out loud.

Let’s look at some examples that illustrate this!

• Past continuous to imply that an event was interrupted or witnessed

  Native English speakers will often use the past continuous, rather than the past simple to imply that the event they’re describing was interrupted or witnessed, without actually telling you about the interruption. Here is a basic example of this:

  Marianne did not turn in her book report. Marianne’s teacher calls her dad to ask why it was not turned in. Her dad says:

  That’s strange, I know she was working on it on Monday.

  Here, we understand that Marianne’s dad is talking about what was happening at some particular moment: probably, when he checked on Marianne. A full version of the sentence might be:

  That’s strange, I know she was working on it when I talked to her on Monday.

  By using the past continuous, Marianne’s dad is implying that he witnessed the work while it was in progress.

  He could use the past simple instead:

  That’s strange, I know she worked on it on Monday.

  But this implies that he didn’t actually witness Marianne working. He has some other way of knowing that the work happened.

• Past continuous to imply that the sentence “stands for” a larger story

  English speakers often choose to use the past continuous with a duration phrase (e.g. all night, for two weeks, from dusk to dawn,...) to imply that the action being discussed is part of a larger story.

  This can help someone to imply that you are really talking about the action said out loud and its consequences, not just the action itself.

  Let’s look at an example:

  Marco is visiting his mother for the week. It is 10am, and Marco’s sister Julia asks why he is still asleep. Marco’s mother tells her:

  Marco was traveling all night.

  By using the past continuous, Marco’s mother is signaling that her sentence is “setting the scene” for a longer story that answers Julia’s question. Most likely, Marco’s mother is saying something like this:

  Marco was traveling all night, and because of that he got very tired, so he needed some extra sleep.

  The answer to Julia’s question is the whole story, but Julia is smart enough to finish the story herself. By using the past continuous, Marco’s mother is implying that the story surrounding the fact that Marco traveled all night will answer Julia’s question.

  Marco’s mother could have used the past simple to convey the same information:

  Marco traveled all night.

  However, the past simple does not imply that the information is part of a larger story, it just passes along a fact. Therefore, using the past simple in this context sounds a little less helpful and a little more abrupt. It sounds more like this:

  Marco traveled all night. Why do you think he is still asleep?

  Here are a few more examples that illustrate how the past continuous implies a longer story, while the past simple just conveys a fact:

  With the past continuous	With the past simple
  My baby was crying all afternoon. → this describes the situation all afternoon	My baby cried all afternoon. → this gives a fact about your baby’s behavior
  We were cooking from 6:00 to 7:00. → this explains the situation from 6:00-7:00	We cooked from 6:00 to 7:00. → this gives facts about when you cooked
  She was cleaning for several hours. → this describes the situation during (or after) those several hours	She cleaned for several hours. → this tells us what she did, or how long she did the action

These uses will certainly take some time to master, but hopefully these three examples will help give you some ideas for how you can use the past continuous to be more expressive!