Past continuous

[luke]

This is the practice thread for the past continuous tense. Include your sentence as a reply to this thread and I'll check it.

The past continuous tense is of the form subject + was/were + verb(ing)
It is used in the following ways;

Unbroken actions – I was jogging when I heard a scream
Gradual changes – The climate was changing
Signifying the middle of an action in time – I was celebrating that evening
Description – The clock struck nine, but I was sleeping

[Learneng]

I was writing this post and he interrupted me.
I was walking when I met him.
He was talking and all of a sudden he stopped.
They were sun bathing on the beach when they heard her scream.
At the time of power failure, I was watching TV.

[luke]

Hi Learneng,

Really good sentences, with no tense mistakes. I believe sunbathing is a single word, and you have to reference the power failure with a the.

I was writing this post and he interrupted me.
I was walking when I met him.
He was talking and (or when) all of a sudden he stopped.
They were sunbathing on the beach when they heard her scream.
At the time of the power failure, I was watching TV.

[Learneng]

I was cursing the person who cut me in the morning.
He was creating a havoc until security escorted him out of the building.
It was raining cats and dogs last night.
They were parking at the wrong spot until the inspector gave them a ticket.
We were making barbecue when  fire alarm went off. Or When fire alarm went off, we were making barbecue. (not sure which sequence is better)

[luke]

Hi Learneng,

Remember that we don't want to change the tense here, so use when rather than until to keep the sentence focused on an event in the past.

~~~

I was cursing the person who cut me up / off in the morning.
He was creating a havoc when security escorted him out of the building.
It was raining cats and dogs last night.
They were parking at the wrong spot when the inspector gave them a ticket.
We were barbecuing food when the fire alarm went off. (I prefer this sentence)
The fire alarm went off whilst / when we were barbecuing food. (this is also grammatically acceptable)