Past Continuous Verb Tense

What is the past continuous verb tense?

The past continuous verb tense, which is also know as the past progressive tense. The past continuous verb tense is one of four tenses that are used in the past. The past continuous verb tense is used in the following situations:

1. the action happened at a specific time.
• We were studying English yesterday at 10:00.
  • the action happened at a specific time - "10:00"
2. there was an interruption while performing the action.
   • I was eating dinner when the phone rang.
     • "eating" is the action was being performed
     • "the phone rang" is the action that interrupted.
3. two actions were happening at the same time.
4. to state a change in a situation.

Example	Past	Present	Future	-
I was eating dinner when the phone rang.	x	-	-	the action happened at a specific time - "when eating dinner".
We were studying English yesterday at 10:00.	x	-	-	-
The dogs were not playing in the yard when something ate your flowers.	x	-	-	-
Were you sleeping when I called last night?	x	-	-	-
Was your mother cooking all night?	x	-	-	-