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Welcome to this class on the past continuous
tense, which is also called the past progressive
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tense.
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Now, this class is part of the series created
by EngVid to help you learn and start using
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all of the English verb tenses one by one.
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So, the past continuous tense is used quite
often in English, so let's understand exactly
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when to use it and how to use it.
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Are you ready?
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Let's begin.
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So, when we want to talk about the past in
English, there are two basic tenses: the past
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simple and the past continuous.
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An example of the past simple is "I worked".
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An example of past continuous is "I was working".
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So, let's understand the difference.
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When we use the past simple, we are referring
to something that happened at a specific point
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in time, okay?
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It happened at a specific point in time in
the past.
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When we use past continuous, we're talking
about something that continued during a period
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in the past, okay?
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Here, we're just talking about the one action,
here, we're talking about the action that
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continued, how long it continued, and we want
to emphasize that, okay?
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Let's look at an example here with our timeline.
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So, let's say this is our timeline.
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This is now, and it's 8:00pm.
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It's 8:00 in the evening, alright?
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And let's say that in the past, before this,
you were working, okay?
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So, let's say you started work - let's say,
you could say "I started work at 9:00am."
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Started - I started, past simple.
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"I finished work at 5:00pm.", again, past
simple, because these are points, right?
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9:00am is a point, 5:00pm is a point.
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I started, I finished, that's past simple.
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But, if you want to talk about this period
from 9:00am to 5:00pm, and you want to emphasize
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that it went on for some time, then you would
say "I was working from 9:00am to 5:00pm.",
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and this "I was working" is the past continuous,
alright?
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That's the basic explanation of it.
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Now, let's look at how we form it.
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So, we would use the subject + the past tense
of the verb "to be" as the helping verb, then
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a verb + -ing.
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For example, we would say: I was working.
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He was working.
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She was working.
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It was working.
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Then it changes a little bit, see here?
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You were working.
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We were working, and They were working.
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Alright?
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So, that's your basic overview of the past
continuous tense.
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Now, let's look at when we can use the past
continuous tense.
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So, we can use it to talk about an action
that was continuing during a period of time.
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For example: Sarah was studying all day.
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What's the period of time here in this sentence?
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All day.
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And where's our past continuous?
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Here: "was studying", okay?
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Next, we can also use this tense to talk about
an action that was continuing during a particular
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moment in the past.
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For example: At 11:00pm, I was sleeping.
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What's the moment in the past?
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11:00pm.
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Where is our past continuous?
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Here, okay?
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So, when would you say something like that?
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Well, let's suppose somebody said "Oh, I tried
to call you last night, but you didn't answer."
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And you say, "What time?" and they said "Oh,
around 11:00."
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And you say "Oh, at 11:00pm, I was sleeping."
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Okay?
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Like that.
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Next, we can also use it to talk about an
action that was continuing when it was interrupted
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by another action.
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For example: They were having dinner when
we arrived.
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Now, this is an interesting sentence because
it actually has two past tenses.
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It has the past continuous: were having, right?
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This was continuing, they were having dinner,
having and having and having dinner when we
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arrived.
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So, this part here is that past simple.
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So, this action was continuing and then something
happened in the middle, but when you want
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to show that that something happened, you
want to show what was going on at that time,
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we use our past continuous.
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They were having dinner when we arrived.
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So, those are the three basic ways in which
we use this tense.
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But, there are a couple of advanced ways.
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Let me just explain to you what they are.
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So, we can also use it sometimes to talk about
an action that was planned.
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For example: I was planning to call John,
okay?
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I was thinking about it, I was planning to
call John, but I didn't have time.
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Okay?
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So, that means that, at some time in the past,
you were thinking about that.
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You were planning that, so that's where we
use that past continuous: I was planning to
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call John, but I didn't have time.
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I didn't have time is, once again, our past
simple, because that's just at a particular
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point, but the planning or the thinking continued
and was continuing and therefore we're using
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past continuous.
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You could also use this tense sometimes for
a polite request with a particular expression
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that we use in English to make a polite request,
and that expression is this one: I was wondering
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if you could help me.
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When we say, "I was wondering", that is past
continuous, alright, here, but it's just an
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expression that we use and it means, really,
you know, "Can you help me?
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Could you help me?", but it's a very polite
way of saying "I was wondering if you could
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help me."
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That means I was thinking about this, if you
could help me, alright?
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So, these are the basic ways in which we can
use this tense.
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Now, let's look at when not to use the past
continuous tense.
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So, in English, we have two kinds of verbs:
action verbs and stative verbs.
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Action verbs are verbs like work, study, run,
cook, clean, okay?
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And stative verbs describe some kind of state
or condition.
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It could be a mental state, an emotional state,
or something else.
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Let's look at some examples.
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Now, what's important is that with these stative
verbs, with many of the stative verbs, we
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cannot use them with this continuous tense
or any of the continuous tenses.
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Let's look at an example.
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It is wrong to say: I was knowing him for
many years.
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Because "know" is a stative verb which we
cannot use in this way.
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So, this is wrong.
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It is wrong to say, "Susan was hating spiders.",
because "hate" is one of those emotional stative
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verbs, and we cannot use it in the continuous
form.
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It is also wrong to use a verb which describes
ownership or possession or something that
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you have.
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For example, it's wrong to say, "They were
owning a big house.".
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We cannot say that, okay?
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Also, these two very common verbs, it's incorrect
to use them in the continuous form.
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"We were wanting to call you.", nope, we can't
say that.
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"She was needing to catch her flight.", no,
that's wrong, we cannot say that correctly,
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okay?
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Now, let's just go back for a second and look
at these.
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So, in this case, what would we use instead?
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We would have to just use the past simple.
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For example, we would say here: I knew him
for many years.
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She hated spiders.
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They owned a big house.
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We wanted to call you.
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She needed to catch her flight.
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Those are all examples of past simple.
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We cannot use these continuous forms here
with the stative verbs.
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There is one verb which is very interesting
and very common which you should be aware
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of, and that's the verb "to have".
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Now, "to have", sometimes has a stative meaning
and sometimes it has a more dynamic meaning,
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or action meaning.
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So, when it has a stative meeting, we cannot
use it in this tense or in any continuous
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tense, but when it has the other meaning,
then we can.
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Let's look at one example.
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It is wrong to say, "He was having a computer".
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No, we would have to say, "He had a computer.",
right?
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Past simple.
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But you could talk about something like this:
He was having a party.
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He was having a good time.
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He was having fun.
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This is okay.
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So, you have to pay attention to that verb
"to have", but what's the general take away
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here?
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Don't use stative verbs with this tense.
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Now, let's look at the structure of the past
continuous tense.
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So, we will look at it in a positive sentence,
a negative sentence, and a question.
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So, in the positive sentence, the basic way
we form this tense is we take the subject
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+ the verb "to be" in the past tense, which
is going to be "was" or "were" + the verb
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+ -ing.
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Let's look at how that works, okay?
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So, I, He, She, or It, we would say "was working".
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I was working.
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You can repeat it after me so you start to
get used to it.
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I was working yesterday.
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He was working.
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She was working.
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It was working.
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And here, we have to change the verb "to be",
so we say: You were working.
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We were working.
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They were working.
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Okay?
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So, it's not only important to remember this
verb +ing, the "working" part, which is not
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too difficult, but this part is also very
important.
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Make sure you're using the correct form of
that past tense of the verb "to be" with this
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tense, okay?
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Because if you make a mistake here, then you'll
make a mistake in the entire tense, so be
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careful of that.
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It is here: was, and here it is: were, okay?
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So, let's pay attention to that.
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Next, if it's a negative sentence, it's very
easy, we're just adding "not", okay?
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There is a way that we can shorten this and
we will look at that soon, but for now, all
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we're doing is we're saying this and we're
adding "not".
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For example: I was not working.
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He was not working.
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She was not working.
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It was not working.
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Or: You were not working.
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We were not working.
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They were not working.
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Okay?
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That's it.
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Next, to form a question, we have to change
the order.
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So, instead of saying "I was", we say "Was
I?".
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Instead of "He was", "Was he?", that's it.
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So, for example, "Was I working yesterday?
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I don't remember."
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Was he working?
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Was she working when you arrived?
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Was it working the last time you used it?
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Were you working?
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Were we working?
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Were they working?
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Okay?
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So, that's the structure of the question.
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Now remember that if you need to add a question
word, you can do that.
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What do I mean by a question word?
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For example, you could say "Where was he working?",
okay?
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So, if you need to add that question word
like, who, what, when, where, why, how often,
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how long, and so on, then you can do that,
just put it here before this, but keep this
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structure.
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00:14:18,340 --> 00:14:20,780
Just put it before the "was", okay?
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And then, of course, you will not capitalize
this word "was".
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So: Where was he working?
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How long was he working?
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And so on, that's it.
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And this is the basic structure of the past
continuous tense.
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Now, let's look at how we use contractions
with the past continuous tense.
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So, contractions are when we shorten or contract
two or three words into one word.
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We're going to see how to do that in just
a second.
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The important thing for you to remember is
that in this tense, if it's a positive sentence,
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we cannot make any contractions, but if it's
negative, we definitely can.
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So, let's see how to do that.
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So, these are the possible negative contractions.
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If you wanted to say, "I was not", it becomes
"wasn't".
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I wasn't, alright?
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00:15:15,779 --> 00:15:17,670
So, what happened here?
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How did we get this?
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We basically took these two words, we cancelled
the "o", we added an apostrophe in the place
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00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:32,830
where we took out the letter and we joined
these two words together.
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00:15:32,830 --> 00:15:43,190
So, "was not" became "wasn't", and "were not",
the other possibility, we do the same thing,
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00:15:43,190 --> 00:15:49,430
we take out the "o", add the apostrophe, and
then "were not" becomes what?
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00:15:49,430 --> 00:15:50,430
Weren't.
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00:15:50,430 --> 00:15:55,230
Now, there are two things to remember about
these contractions.
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The first is how to spell them.
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00:15:57,790 --> 00:16:00,070
The second is how to pronounce them.
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00:16:00,070 --> 00:16:05,410
So, we're going to practice both in this section
of the lesson.
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So, when would we use which one?
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You've already gone over that a little bit,
so just repeat after me right now and try
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to make sure you're pronouncing all of this
word clearly, because if you are trying to
235
00:16:19,430 --> 00:16:27,170
say "I wasn't watching", but you don't say
the ending "tuh", then it'll sound like "I
236
00:16:27,170 --> 00:16:31,970
was watching", and that's the opposite meaning,
right?
237
00:16:31,970 --> 00:16:38,550
So, repeat after me: I wasn't watching.
238
00:16:38,550 --> 00:16:42,880
He wasn't watching.
239
00:16:42,880 --> 00:16:44,600
She wasn't watching.
240
00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:48,000
It wasn't watching.
241
00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:53,160
Now, for the second part, okay?
242
00:16:53,160 --> 00:17:01,440
A different word, different form of the verb
"to be": You weren't sleeping.
243
00:17:01,440 --> 00:17:03,420
Make sure you're saying that "tuh".
244
00:17:03,420 --> 00:17:07,220
You weren't sleeping.
245
00:17:07,220 --> 00:17:11,179
We weren't sleeping.
246
00:17:11,179 --> 00:17:13,620
They weren't sleeping.
247
00:17:13,620 --> 00:17:15,269
Okay?
248
00:17:15,269 --> 00:17:19,720
And that's basically it in terms of making
the contractions.
249
00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:25,119
Now, let's look at some of the spelling changes
we need to make in the main verb when using
250
00:17:25,119 --> 00:17:26,559
this tense.
251
00:17:26,559 --> 00:17:34,019
So, for most verbs, all we have to do is to
add -ing.
252
00:17:34,019 --> 00:17:39,350
For example: talk becomes talking.
253
00:17:39,350 --> 00:17:44,940
Sell - selling.
254
00:17:44,940 --> 00:17:48,360
With some verbs, you have to do something
a little bit different.
255
00:17:48,360 --> 00:17:56,409
For example, for verbs ending in "e", we have
to drop the "e" and add "-ing".
256
00:17:56,409 --> 00:18:00,490
We're always going to be adding -ing for all
the verbs, but sometimes you have to make
257
00:18:00,490 --> 00:18:02,649
some changes before that.
258
00:18:02,649 --> 00:18:10,490
For example, for those verbs ending in "e",
like "make" becomes "making", because we're
259
00:18:10,490 --> 00:18:14,389
dropping the "e", right?
260
00:18:14,389 --> 00:18:20,759
Take becomes taking without the "e".
261
00:18:20,759 --> 00:18:31,090
Next, for verbs ending in "ie", we have to
drop the "ie" and add "y" and then the "-ing".
262
00:18:31,090 --> 00:18:35,799
For example: tie becomes tying, alright?
263
00:18:35,799 --> 00:18:38,750
We added "y" and "-ing".
264
00:18:38,750 --> 00:18:44,700
Lie, get rid of "ie", add the "y" and
"-ing", lying.
265
00:18:44,700 --> 00:18:49,700
Tie - tying, lie - lying, alright?
266
00:18:49,700 --> 00:18:55,659
And for some verbs that end with a pattern
called C-V-C.
267
00:18:55,659 --> 00:19:00,200
C-V-C stands for consonant, vowel, consonant.
268
00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:07,730
A vowel in English is A, E, I, O, and U, and
a consonant is every other letter.
269
00:19:07,730 --> 00:19:16,169
So, for some verbs that follow this pattern
that end like this, we have to double the
270
00:19:16,169 --> 00:19:18,210
last letter.
271
00:19:18,210 --> 00:19:24,720
For example, what you need to do is to look
at this word from the end, because not every
272
00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:34,179
word will have only three letters, but always
look at the word from the end, okay?
273
00:19:34,179 --> 00:19:40,700
C-V-C, and if it follows that pattern, then
double the last letter and then add "-ing".
274
00:19:40,700 --> 00:19:43,370
For example: Jog becomes jogging.
275
00:19:43,370 --> 00:19:46,360
What does it mean to jog?
276
00:19:46,360 --> 00:19:49,760
To like, run for exercise.
277
00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:52,039
Sit becomes sitting.
278
00:19:52,039 --> 00:19:53,119
Alright?
279
00:19:53,119 --> 00:20:00,460
So, these are some of the main spelling changes
you need to make in this tense for the verbs.
280
00:20:00,460 --> 00:20:07,030
In English, when someone asks you a question,
we don't usually just say "Yes" or "No", because
281
00:20:07,030 --> 00:20:09,539
it sounds a little bit impolite.
282
00:20:09,539 --> 00:20:14,200
We can be a little bit more polite than that,
and I'm going to show you how.
283
00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:18,360
But also in English, when someone asks you
a question, you don't have to give a very
284
00:20:18,360 --> 00:20:22,710
long answer if, basically, your information
is "yes" or "no".
285
00:20:22,710 --> 00:20:28,289
So, I'm going to show you how to give short
answers that allow you to answer in a very
286
00:20:28,289 --> 00:20:31,159
polite way and an easy way.
287
00:20:31,159 --> 00:20:39,789
So, for example, in this tense, if someone
said "Was he playing video games?", then you
288
00:20:39,789 --> 00:20:47,340
could just say "Yes, he was.", if it's a positive
answer, or "No, he wasn't.".
289
00:20:47,340 --> 00:20:49,330
And how do you know that pattern?
290
00:20:49,330 --> 00:20:58,929
Well, in this case, all we had to do was take
the "was" from the question and use it in
291
00:20:58,929 --> 00:21:00,769
our answer, okay?
292
00:21:00,769 --> 00:21:07,600
Now, as you can see in the positive answer,
you cannot use any contraction because there
293
00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:14,860
isn't one, but in the negative one, the negative
answer, yes, do use the contraction, especially
294
00:21:14,860 --> 00:21:21,039
in informal conversation where we use these
kind of questions and answers, okay?
295
00:21:21,039 --> 00:21:25,919
So, just take your answer from the question
itself.
296
00:21:25,919 --> 00:21:27,129
Let's take another example.
297
00:21:27,129 --> 00:21:30,149
"Were they studying for the test?"
298
00:21:30,149 --> 00:21:38,889
So, you could say again, take your answer
from here: "Yes, they were.", or "No, they
299
00:21:38,889 --> 00:21:41,039
weren't.", okay?
300
00:21:41,039 --> 00:21:44,330
Make sure you you're saying "weren't", "wasn't",
okay?
301
00:21:44,330 --> 00:21:49,179
Make sure you're saying that ending, otherwise
the meaning changes, alright?
302
00:21:49,179 --> 00:21:55,629
Now, the only one that's different, the only
exception is for questions about you.
303
00:21:55,629 --> 00:21:59,299
So, if someone says, "Were you managing a
team?"
304
00:21:59,299 --> 00:22:01,779
Let's suppose you go for an interview, right?
305
00:22:01,779 --> 00:22:06,289
They're asking you many different kinds of
questions about your previous jobs, and they
306
00:22:06,289 --> 00:22:08,769
ask you "Were you managing a team?".
307
00:22:08,769 --> 00:22:16,249
So then, of course, you cannot say "were",
your answer will be "Yes, I was.", or "No,
308
00:22:16,249 --> 00:22:18,690
I wasn't".
309
00:22:18,690 --> 00:22:24,669
And because you are you and a lot of people
are going to ask you questions about you,
310
00:22:24,669 --> 00:22:28,110
it's good for you to memorize these, okay?
311
00:22:28,110 --> 00:22:29,259
Were you doing this?
312
00:22:29,259 --> 00:22:30,379
Yes, I was.
313
00:22:30,379 --> 00:22:31,440
No, I wasn't.
314
00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:32,669
Yes, I was.
315
00:22:32,669 --> 00:22:33,890
No, I wasn't.
316
00:22:33,890 --> 00:22:34,890
Okay?
317
00:22:34,890 --> 00:22:40,340
So, know these answers for yourself but for
anyone else, you can take the answer from
318
00:22:40,340 --> 00:22:41,960
the question itself.
319
00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:46,860
So, were you paying attention to this lesson?
320
00:22:46,860 --> 00:22:49,249
I hope you said "Yes, I was."
321
00:22:49,249 --> 00:22:52,460
Now, let's practice what you've been learning.
322
00:22:52,460 --> 00:22:59,899
So, what we'll do first is we will take some
sentences which, right now, are in the present
323
00:22:59,899 --> 00:23:05,080
continuous, and we're going to change them
to the past continuous.
324
00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:09,130
For example: I am learning.
325
00:23:09,130 --> 00:23:14,110
How would you say that in the past continuous,
which we've been learning?
326
00:23:14,110 --> 00:23:15,360
What would it become?
327
00:23:15,360 --> 00:23:25,940
"I am" becomes "I was learning.", okay?
328
00:23:25,940 --> 00:23:29,139
I was learning.
329
00:23:29,139 --> 00:23:31,739
We are waiting.
330
00:23:31,739 --> 00:23:33,770
What does that become?
331
00:23:33,770 --> 00:23:43,039
We were waiting, okay?
332
00:23:43,039 --> 00:23:44,269
Very good.
333
00:23:44,269 --> 00:23:48,470
He is singing, in the present, becomes what
in the past?
334
00:23:48,470 --> 00:23:58,749
In the past continuous, we say "He was singing.",
okay?
335
00:23:58,749 --> 00:24:00,070
Very good.
336
00:24:00,070 --> 00:24:06,480
Now, for these, these are already in the past
continuous, but we're going to - right now,
337
00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:08,059
they're positive sentences.
338
00:24:08,059 --> 00:24:11,109
We're going to change them into negative sentences.
339
00:24:11,109 --> 00:24:17,259
So, let's start with the first one: Ruby was
teaching.
340
00:24:17,259 --> 00:24:18,409
How would we make it negative?
341
00:24:18,409 --> 00:24:27,200
It would be "was", what's the key word?
342
00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:30,450
"not" teaching, okay?
343
00:24:30,450 --> 00:24:34,129
Ruby was not teaching.
344
00:24:34,129 --> 00:24:38,149
Number five: Simon was winning.
345
00:24:38,149 --> 00:24:43,080
Make it negative and this time, we'll try
to make a contraction.
346
00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:51,389
Simon - yes - wasn't winning.
347
00:24:51,389 --> 00:24:52,730
Okay?
348
00:24:52,730 --> 00:24:55,610
Simon wasn't winning.
349
00:24:55,610 --> 00:24:57,399
We were driving.
350
00:24:57,399 --> 00:25:01,509
Make it negative and a contraction.
351
00:25:01,509 --> 00:25:14,149
We weren't, okay, pay attention to the spelling
also, we weren't driving, okay.
352
00:25:14,149 --> 00:25:15,239
Great.
353
00:25:15,239 --> 00:25:16,669
Let's look at number seven.
354
00:25:16,669 --> 00:25:20,000
Now, we're going to make a question.
355
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:24,499
Right now, it's a sentence: Steven was going
to the conference.
356
00:25:24,499 --> 00:25:32,070
So, I want you to help me make a question
starting with the question word "where".
357
00:25:32,070 --> 00:25:42,340
Steven was going to
the conference.
358
00:25:42,340 --> 00:25:46,899
Where was Steven going?
359
00:25:46,899 --> 00:25:48,039
Okay?
360
00:25:48,039 --> 00:25:49,239
Very good.
361
00:25:49,239 --> 00:25:54,450
And number eight, same thing: She was doing
her homework.
362
00:25:54,450 --> 00:25:55,769
What does that become?
363
00:25:55,769 --> 00:26:00,230
Let's start the question with the word "what".
364
00:26:00,230 --> 00:26:08,899
What was she doing?
365
00:26:08,899 --> 00:26:11,509
Right?
366
00:26:11,509 --> 00:26:13,090
Because what are we doing with the questions?
367
00:26:13,090 --> 00:26:15,019
We're changing that order.
368
00:26:15,019 --> 00:26:17,350
She was - was she?
369
00:26:17,350 --> 00:26:19,759
Steven was - was Steven?
370
00:26:19,759 --> 00:26:20,759
Okay?
371
00:26:20,759 --> 00:26:23,519
So, you've done a lot of practice, very good!
372
00:26:23,519 --> 00:26:27,940
Now, let's look at some common mistakes that
are made with this tense, and you can help
373
00:26:27,940 --> 00:26:29,980
me correct them.
374
00:26:29,980 --> 00:26:34,869
So, sometimes the wrong tense is used.
375
00:26:34,869 --> 00:26:40,549
For example, this student wrote "I am studying
when you called."
376
00:26:40,549 --> 00:26:43,629
So, what should it be?
377
00:26:43,629 --> 00:26:50,970
"I am studying" is the present continuous,
but that's not what we need, we need the past
378
00:26:50,970 --> 00:26:53,200
continuous, so this one should be "I was".
379
00:26:53,200 --> 00:27:01,279
I
was studying, right?
380
00:27:01,279 --> 00:27:04,190
I was studying when you called.
381
00:27:04,190 --> 00:27:05,350
Alright.
382
00:27:05,350 --> 00:27:09,919
Sometimes, the mistake is with the verb "to
be".
383
00:27:09,919 --> 00:27:15,269
For example, this person wrote "We was relaxing."
384
00:27:15,269 --> 00:27:19,570
They got this part right, but is this right?
385
00:27:19,570 --> 00:27:20,570
No.
386
00:27:20,570 --> 00:27:21,919
What's the correct form?
387
00:27:21,919 --> 00:27:29,200
We should say "We were relaxing.", okay?
388
00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:30,830
Good.
389
00:27:30,830 --> 00:27:34,360
Sometimes, there are spelling mistakes.
390
00:27:34,360 --> 00:27:38,840
For example: "She was bakeing a cake."
391
00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:45,960
Do remember what we do when we have a verb
which is like this: bake, it ends with an
392
00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:51,570
"e", so we need to cancel the "e" before we
add "-ing".
393
00:27:51,570 --> 00:27:53,190
Good.
394
00:27:53,190 --> 00:27:57,570
Sometimes, there's a problem with the word
order.
395
00:27:57,570 --> 00:28:01,100
You might have all the right words, but not
in the right order.
396
00:28:01,100 --> 00:28:04,609
For example: "When you were going to call?"
397
00:28:04,609 --> 00:28:07,530
that's not right.
398
00:28:07,530 --> 00:28:11,380
What should it be?
399
00:28:11,380 --> 00:28:20,799
"When were you going to call?", okay?
400
00:28:20,799 --> 00:28:25,860
Sometimes, words are missing.
401
00:28:25,860 --> 00:28:30,590
For example: "You waiting a long time?"
402
00:28:30,590 --> 00:28:33,159
What should it be?
403
00:28:33,159 --> 00:28:37,769
This is a question, so which word goes first?
404
00:28:37,769 --> 00:28:44,690
Goes here, it should be "Were you".
405
00:28:44,690 --> 00:28:50,489
"Were you waiting a long time?", not just
"you waiting".
406
00:28:50,489 --> 00:28:52,570
Were you waiting a long time?
407
00:28:52,570 --> 00:28:53,610
Okay?
408
00:28:53,610 --> 00:28:54,649
Good.
409
00:28:54,649 --> 00:28:57,739
Let's look at another example where there
are missing words.
410
00:28:57,739 --> 00:29:00,509
"He talking to a client."
411
00:29:00,509 --> 00:29:03,820
Let's suppose this is in the past continuous.
412
00:29:03,820 --> 00:29:05,609
What's missing?
413
00:29:05,609 --> 00:29:15,669
Again, the verb "to be", that helping verb,
we need that, so it should be "He was talking
414
00:29:15,669 --> 00:29:17,309
to a client.", okay?
415
00:29:17,309 --> 00:29:23,769
Now it's correct and of course, we have to
remember that, with this tense, we can't use
416
00:29:23,769 --> 00:29:26,330
many of the stative verbs.
417
00:29:26,330 --> 00:29:32,850
So, this student made a mistake and said,
"I was believing you.", but "believe" is one
418
00:29:32,850 --> 00:29:38,019
of those stative verbs, so we just cannot
use it in this tense.
419
00:29:38,019 --> 00:29:44,580
So, we would have had to say, "I believed
you.", which is just past simple.
420
00:29:44,580 --> 00:29:48,549
We cannot use this word with the continuous
form.
421
00:29:48,549 --> 00:29:52,850
So, these are some of the main mistakes you
should be careful of.
422
00:29:52,850 --> 00:29:54,769
So, congratulations!
423
00:29:54,769 --> 00:30:00,850
You have just learned when to use this tense,
when not to use this tense, and also how to
424
00:30:00,850 --> 00:30:02,479
use this tense.
425
00:30:02,479 --> 00:30:09,100
You've learned how to make a positive sentence,
a negative sentence, and also a question.
426
00:30:09,100 --> 00:30:17,029
For example, you know you to say, "Robert
was driving.", or "Robert wasn't driving",
427
00:30:17,029 --> 00:30:21,359
or "Was Robert driving?", okay?
428
00:30:21,359 --> 00:30:25,690
And when you can do that, it means that you
can move comfortably between different kinds
429
00:30:25,690 --> 00:30:31,019
of sentences and different kinds of usages
of this tense, alright?
430
00:30:31,019 --> 00:30:36,590
Now, I've written on the board a few other
questions you might hear people saying and
431
00:30:36,590 --> 00:30:41,869
asking that use this tense and which you could
also start using.
432
00:30:41,869 --> 00:30:50,649
For example: "What were you doing yesterday?",
or "Where were you going?", or "Who were you
433
00:30:50,649 --> 00:30:52,960
talking to?", okay?
434
00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:57,399
You might hear these kinds of questions and
they are, in fact, using this tense which
435
00:30:57,399 --> 00:31:00,399
you have just learned, okay?
436
00:31:00,399 --> 00:31:06,309
And to practice it a little bit more, I suggest
you write something about your day.
437
00:31:06,309 --> 00:31:08,519
What were you doing yesterday?
438
00:31:08,519 --> 00:31:12,389
Write some of those things down and you'll
find that you're using this tense and it's
439
00:31:12,389 --> 00:31:15,309
quite useful, alright?
440
00:31:15,309 --> 00:31:17,429
Where do you go from here?
441
00:31:17,429 --> 00:31:22,970
Once you're comfortable with this tense, then
you can go on to watch the next tense in our
442
00:31:22,970 --> 00:31:28,149
series, which is the future simple tense,
alright?
443
00:31:28,149 --> 00:31:33,740
And if you'd like to practice this one a little
bit more, you can go to www.engvid.com and
444
00:31:33,740 --> 00:31:36,350
do a quiz on this, alright?
445
00:31:36,350 --> 00:31:39,440
Congratulations again, and all the best with
your English.36511
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