PAST CONTINUOS Eitan Najmanovich

 

Use the Past Continuous to indicate that a longer action in the past was interrupted. The interruption is usually a shorter action in the Simple Past. Remember this can be a real interruption or just an interruption in time.

Subject + verb to be (was/were) + verb “ing” + complement

Examples:

• I was watching TV when she called.
• When the phone rang, she was writing a letter.
• While we were having the picnic, it started to rain.
• What were you doing when the earthquake started?
• I was listening to my iPod, so I didn’t hear the fire alarm.
• You were not listening to me when I told you to turn the oven off.
• While John was sleeping last night, someone stole his car.
• Sammy was waiting for us when we got off the plane.
• While I was writing the email, the computer suddenly went off.
• A: What were you doing when you broke your leg?
  B: I was snowboarding.

 

Exercises:

1 Qual é a alternativa que completa corretamente a

frase “My father _______________ on the sofa”?

a) was sleeping.

b) were sleeping.

c) were sleep.

d) was sleep.

2 Marque a alternativa que complete corretamente

a frase “________ the boys ____________ TV an

hour ago?

a) Was – watch.

b) Were – watch.

c) Was – watching.

d) Were – watching.

3 Qual é a alternativa que completa corretamente a

frase “She _________________ a shower when

her cell phone ______________”?

a) was having – ringing.

b) was having – rang.

c) were having – rang.

d) were having – ringing.

4 Qual é a alternativa que completa corretamente a

frase “While the teacher __________ the subject,

the students __________________”?

a) were explain – was talk.

b) was explain – were talk.

c) was explaining – were talking.

d) were explaining – was talking

5 Qual é a forma negativa da frase “It was raining

outside”?

a) It not was raining outside.

b) It was not raining outside.

c) It not wasn’t raining outside.

d) Not it was raining outside.

6 Qual é a forma interrogaiva frase “The children

were looking for the cat”?

a) Were the children looking for the cat?

b) The were children looking for the cat?

c) The children were looking for the cat?

d) Looking the children were for the cat?

Respostas:

1 A

2 D

3 B

4 C

5 B

6 A