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Unit 6. Past Сontinuous (I was doing)
(прошедшее продолженное время)

Study this example situation:

Yesterday Karen and Jim played tennis.
They began at 10 o'clock and finished at 11.30.
So, at 10.30 they were playing tennis.

They were playing = "they were in the middle of playing". They had not finished playing.
Was/ were -ing is the Past Continuous:

I/ he/ she/ it
we/ you/ they

was
were

playing
doing
working

We use the Past Continuous to say that somebody was in the middle of doing something at a certain time. The action or situation had already started before this time but had not finished:

Unit 6. Past Continuos (I was doing)

This time last year I was living in Brazil.
What were you doing at 10 o'clock last night?
I waved to her but she wasn't looking.

Compare the Past Continuous (I was doing) and Past Simple (I did):

Past Continuous (in the middle of an action)

I was walking home when I met Dave.
(= in the middle of walking home).
Ann was watching television when the phone rang.

Past Simple (complete action)

I walked home after the party last night.
(= all the way, completely).
Ann watched television a lot when she was ill last year.

We often use the Past Simple and the Past Continuous together to say that something happened in the middle of something else:

Tom burnt his hand when he was cooking the dinner.
I saw you in the park yesterday. You were sitting on the grass and reading a book.
While I was working in the garden, I hurt my back.

But we use the Past Simple to say that one thing happened after another:

I was walking along the road when I saw Dave. So I stopped and we had a chat.

Compare:

When Karen arrived, we were having dinner.
(= We had already started dinner before karen arrived.)

When Karen arrived, we had dinner.
(= First Karen arrived and then we had dinner.)

There are some verbs (for example, know/ want/ believe) that are not normally used in the continuous (see Unit 4. Present Continuous and Present Simple (2) I am doing and I do).

We were good friends. We knew each other well. (not we were knowing)
I was enjoying the party but Chris wanted to go home. (not was wanting)

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Unit 6. Past Сontinuous (I was doing) (прошедшее продолженное время)

Unit 6. Past Сontinuous (I was doing)
(прошедшее продолженное время)