Grammar › Past Continuous

Past Continuous: yes/no questions

450 fill-in-the-gap exercises, 45 tests of ten

Move was or were in front of the subject. The -ing form stays put.

The pattern

Swap the first two elements:

You were waiting. → Were you waiting?

No auxiliary is added, because the tense already has one.

Short answers keep the auxiliary

Were you watching? — Yes, I was. / No, I wasn’t.

Asking what someone was in the middle of

These questions usually fix a moment and ask what was already running then:

• Were you sleeping when I called?
• Was it raining at the time?

The answer often sets up a Past Simple event: Yes, and then the alarm went off.

Polite and careful

The Past Continuous softens a request or a question about intentions:

I was wondering whether you had a moment.

Nothing about it is really past — the tense is doing politeness, not time.

All forms

Examples

Taken from the 450 sentences in this drill. The answer is highlighted.

• Were they running in the park early in the morning?
• Was he swimming in the pool when it started to rain?
• Were you playing the piano when I came into the room?
• Were they watching a movie when their friends dropped by?
• Were you reading a book when the doorbell rang?
• Were you working in the garden when it started to rain?
• Were you listening to the radio when the news broke?
• Were they having dinner when the fire alarm went off?
• Were you doing your homework when your friends came over?
• Was she washing the dishes when you called her?
• Were they cooking a meal when the phone rang?
• Were you walking in the rain when I drove past you?

Mistakes to avoid

Quick choices from this form

Other forms of Past Continuous