The Past Continuous has two parts: the past tense of to be (was / were) + the main verb with -ing. The subject determines whether you use was or were — exactly like the Present Continuous, just one step back in time.
| Subject | Auxiliary | Example |
|---|---|---|
| I / He / She / It | was | She was reading in the cosy living room. |
| You / We / They | were | They were moving into the new flat. |
| Negative | wasn't / weren't | He wasn't working — he was asleep! |
| Question | Was / Were + subject | Were you sleeping at 10 PM? |
The main verb in the Past Continuous always ends in -ing. Adding -ing is not always a simple case of typing three extra letters — there are spelling rules depending on the verb's final letters.
| Rule | Verb ending | Change | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | most verbs | add -ing | read→reading, play→playing, watch→watching |
| Silent -e | ends in -e | drop the -e, add -ing | make→making, live→living, argue→arguing |
| Double consonant (CVC) | short vowel + single consonant | double final consonant | sit→sitting, run→running, plan→planning |
| -ie → -y | ends in -ie | -ie becomes -y-ing | lie→lying, die→dying, tie→tying |
| UK English -l | ends in -l | double the -l (UK spelling) | travel→travelling, cancel→cancelling |
The three key uses of the Past Continuous all involve the idea of an action that was already in progress at a particular moment. Understanding how it combines with the Past Simple is essential at B1.
⚠️ State verbs describe a condition, feeling, or mental state — not a physical action. Because they describe something that simply exists rather than something actively happening, they cannot normally be used in continuous tenses. This is one of the most common B1 mistakes.
These three words connect the two halves of a Past Continuous sentence, but they are not interchangeable. Choosing the right one — and putting it in the right place — is one of the most frequently tested points at B1.
We use was/were going to + base verb to talk about a plan or intention someone had in the past. It uses the same auxiliary as the Past Continuous (was/were), but the meaning is completely different: it's about a plan, not an action in progress. Very often, the plan did not actually happen.
You now know three different ways to talk about the past. Mixing them up is one of the most common B1 mistakes, so it's important to see all three side by side. (You will study the Present Perfect in much more depth soon — for now, just learn to recognise it.)
✅ "I was walking home when it started to rain."
❌ "I walked home while it was raining, and it was starting just then." → confusing, wrong verb for the sudden event
✅ "It started to rain while I was walking home."
❌ "It was starting to rain while I walked home." → reverses which action is the background
A few years ago, my wife and I decided to settle down. We had spent years renting cramped flats in noisy city centres, and we were tired of it. We bought a run-down cottage in a quiet village about an hour from the city. It was cheap, but it needed serious work. We were going to hire a builder, but we decided to do it up ourselves over the summer instead. One Saturday afternoon, we were both working in the spacious living room — I was painting the walls while she was measuring the windows for new curtains. The radio was on quietly in the background. It felt like real progress. Then, without any warning, we heard a deep groaning sound from somewhere above us. We looked at each other. Seconds later, a section of the ceiling came down in a cloud of dust and old plaster, right between us. We stood there in silence, completely covered in white dust. Then my wife started laughing. I didn't understand why she was laughing at first — but then I looked at her face, and I started laughing too. We cleaned up as best we could, and then we sat outside with a cup of tea, looking at the cottage. Neither of us suggested selling it.
1. What does the writer's decision to do up the cottage themselves most likely suggest?
2. Why did the writer not immediately understand why his wife was laughing after the ceiling fell?
3. What does "Neither of us suggested selling it" tell us about the couple?
I left my hometown at eighteen to go to university. The town was quiet and peaceful — the kind of place where nothing much happened. I was desperate to leave. I moved to a lively, crowded city and loved the noise, the energy, and the constant movement. I told everyone I was never going back. Last spring, I returned for a weekend. I was walking through the familiar streets, and I noticed that nothing had really changed. The same small shops, the same houses, the same faces. While I was sitting in the old café where I used to do my homework, a woman came in and sat down next to me. She looked at me for a moment, then said: "You must be Maria's son. You have her eyes." I had not thought about that café — or my mother — in years. On the train home, I was looking out of the window, but I wasn't really seeing the fields passing by. I kept thinking about the woman's words. I live in a bright, spacious flat in the city now. I have a good job and a full life. But something about going back made me feel like a part of me had never really left.
1. How had the writer's feelings about his hometown most likely changed between leaving and returning?
2. Why was the stranger's comment — "You must be Maria's son" — significant to the writer?
3. What does "I was looking out of the window, but I wasn't really seeing the fields" suggest about the writer?
Last Saturday evening, we decided to stay in. I (1) cooking dinner in the kitchen (2) my flatmate (3) watching something on television in the living room. It (4) raining outside and everything felt very calm.
Then, at about eight o'clock, the lights suddenly (5) out. I (6) still stirring the soup when it (7). I couldn't see anything. I tried to find my phone, but I (8) sure where I had left it.
My flatmate called out from the other room and asked if I (9) all right. I said yes. A few minutes later, he (10) in with a torch. We (11) laughing about the whole situation when the lights suddenly (12) back on. The soup was fine.
It reminded me that we (13) going to buy some candles the week before, but we completely forgot about it. Luckily, we (14) never had a power cut quite that long before, so we didn't panic too much.
Check the was/were auxiliary, the -ing spelling, and word order in negatives and questions.
Check whether the verb describes a state (Simple only) or an action (Continuous is fine) — pay special attention to have and think.
Check whether the sentence needs the background/in-progress form (Continuous), a complete, sequential event (Simple), or a connection to now with no specific past time (Present Perfect).
Check the was/were auxiliary, the "going to" form, and word order in negatives and questions.