Unit 6 Past continuous

Question 1

I was doing something.

Answer 1

I 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.
e.g.
This time last year, I was living in Brazil.
What were you doing at 10 o’clock last night?
I waved to Halen, but he wasn’t looking.

ある時点において、何かしている最中／状況

Question 2

Past continuos = in the middle of an action

Past simple = complete action

Answer 2

I was walking home when I met Dan.
Kate was watching TV when we arrived.

I walked home after the party last night.
Kate watched TV a lot when she was ill last year.

Question 3

We often use the past simple and the past continuous together to say something happened in the middle of something else.

But we use the past simple to say that one thing happened after another.

Answer 3

Matt phoned when we were having dinner.
It was raining when I got up.

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

Question 4

Compare
When Karen arrived, we were having dinner.
When Karen arrived, we had dinner.

Answer 4

We had already started before she arrived.

Karen arrived, and then we had dinner.

Question 5

Some verbs are not normally used in the continuous.

Answer 5

know and want