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2.3 Past Progressive: Affirmative and Negative Statements

Affirmative Negative
Was/ Was Not/
Subject Verb + -ing Subject Verb + -ing
Were Were Not
was not
I/He/She/It was I/He/She/It
wasn’t
working. sleeping.
You/We/They were You/We/They were not
weren’t

1. Use the past progressive to talk about an were studying
action that was in progress at a certain
time in the past. 9:00 now
They were studying at 9:00 last night.
2. Remember: Use the simple past for Yesterday I rode my bike to work.
completed or repeated past actions, She swam every day last week.
events, states, and feelings. He didn’t like the movie.
3. Remember: Non-action verbs are not ✓ I saw an accident last night.
usually used with the progressive. ✗ I was seeing an accident last night.

See page A1 for spelling rules for the -ing form of verbs.

4 Complete each sentence with the past progressive form of the verb(s) in parentheses.

1. Angelica was teaching (teach) her local language in the evenings.

2. At 6:00 p.m. many people in town (listen) to Angelica’s show.

3. The radio (play) loud dance music last night.

4. We (talk) to Carlos, but he
(not listen) to us.

5. Pedro (look) for a job at a radio station, but he didn’t find one.

6. Tom and Karen (live) in Guatemala last year.

7. The people next to us (speak) Spanish. I think they were
Mexican.
8. Steve (sit) in the library, but he

(not study). He (read) a magazine.

REAL ENGLISH

The past progressive is often used to
describe a scene in the past.

The café was full. A band was playing,
and people were talking loudly.
Everyone was enjoying the evening.

UNIT 2 LESSON 2 35
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