Past Continuous

• Use the past continuous to talk about actions that were in progress at a specific time in the past. Form it with was or were plus an ing verb.
• Subject
• Auxiliary
• Verb+ing
• Rest of sentence
• I / He / She / It
• was
• waiting
• at the loading dock in Chicago.
• You / We / They
• were
• talking
• to the broker agent in Dallas.
• Remember
• Use was with I, he, she, and it.
• Use were with you, we, and they.
• Add ing to the main verb.
• Use it for actions happening at a specific past moment.
• Examples
• The truck driver was sleeping in the yard at midnight.
• Two warehouse workers were loading the trailer in Atlanta.
• Was the dispatcher calling the lumper in New York?
• Common mistakes
• The forklift driver were moving the pallet.
• The forklift driver was moving the pallet.
• They was waiting in line for hours.
• They were waiting in line for hours.

Complete the sentences

• At 2 PM yesterday, the fleet coordinator (talk) ____ to the driver in Boston.
• The warehouse workers (unload) ____ the cargo at the dock.
• While Gary (drive) ____ through Ohio, it started to rain.
• the lumper (collect) ____ the cash fee at door four?
• The trucks (wait) ____ in the yard all morning.
• Mark (sit) ____ in his truck when the phone rang.

Sources: photo by Thư Tiêu on Pexels