Past Progressive
Temporary, Repeated, or Background Activity
Temporary vs. Permanent
| TEMPORARY – PAST PROGRESSIVE | ||
|---|---|---|
We use the past progressive to talk about more temporary activities. |
||
| SUBJECT | PROG. VERB | COMPLEMENT |
Alison |
was living |
in San Mateo while attending Stanford. |
Alison |
was commuting |
to Palo Alto for four years. |
Alison |
was standing |
on the train platform. |
Alison |
*was loving |
her job in marketing. |
| MORE PERMANENT – PAST | ||
|---|---|---|
We use the past tense to talk about more permanent situations. |
||
| SUBJECT | PAST VERB | COMPLEMENT |
Alison |
lived |
in San Francisco after finishing college. |
Alison |
commuted |
to work every day. |
Her office building |
stood |
on the corner on and Market Street. |
Alison |
loved |
her job in marketing. |
*Commonly used but Informal tense usage with a stative verb.
complement – a word, phrase, or clause that is required in a sentence to complete its meaning.
commute – to regularly travel a long distance to get to work
Categories: NP –noun phrase; N – noun; VP – verb phrase; V – verb; Det – determiner; PP – prepositional phrase; P – preposition; AdvP – adverb phrase; Adv – adverb; AdjP– adjective phrase; Adj – adjective
Functions: Subject: Subject, Predicate: Predicator (V); Complement: elements required by the verb: object, indirect object, predicative complement Adjuncts: (optional modifiers) Adj, Adv
Past Progressive
Repeated Activity
Repeated Event vs Single Event
| REPEATED ACTIVITY | ||
|---|---|---|
We use the past progressive to place emphasis on the repeated nature (repetition) of an activity. We use would or used to for habits. |
||
| SUBJ: N | VERB / PHRASE | COMPLEMENT |
Alison |
attended was attending used to attend |
lectures on art history. |
Alison |
commuted was commuting used to commute |
to Palo Alto for four years. |
She |
waited was waiting used to wait |
for the train everyday.. |
She |
ran was running used to run |
to catch her bus everyday. |
| SINGLE EVENT | ||
|---|---|---|
We use the past tense to talk about a single event. |
||
| SUBJ: N | PAST VERB | COMPLEMENT |
Alison |
attended |
a lecture on Byzantine Art. |
Alison |
traveled
|
to conference in New York |
Alison |
waited
|
one hour for the train today. |
Alison |
waited |
one hour for the train today. |
would / used to – Past Habits
Past Progressive
Background Activity
A focus activity with "backgrounding"
| MAIN FOCUS |
|---|
We use the past tense to tell about an activity, the main focus (point) of what we are saying. |
We saw two cars crash. |
He said that he would like to run for office again. |
Something on her plate started to move. |
A handsome young guy walked by our table and her eyes lit up.
|
| BACKGROUND ACTIVITY |
|---|
We use the past progressive to tell what is going on in the background. The sentence in the past progressive sets the scene for the main action in the past nonprogressive. |
As we were walking along the sidewalk, we saw two cars crash. |
I was having a beer with the President yesterday, and he said that we would like to run for office again. |
Jessica was eating dinner with Justin Timberlake at a chic, new restaurant in Beverly Hills, when something on her plate started to move. |
Madonna was saying that she still couldn't find a good man, then a handsome young man walked by our table and her eyes lit up. |
backgrounding – this pairing of tenses is also used for "name dropping" (mentioning the name of a famous person to impress others.)
Also see After/ Before/ When – time-relative activities
Past Progressive
Adverbs and Time Expressions
Adverbs for Both Past & Past Progressive Tenses
| PAST & PAST PROGRESSIVE ADVERBS | ||
|---|---|---|
Past tense verbs are used with adverbs specifying a past time or frequency of occurence. The emphasis is on action. |
||
| AT, IN, ON | AGO, LAST | THIS, THAT |
A specific time in the past (clendar or clock times) |
A past time based on quantity or calendar units |
A past time before the current time (near, far) |
at 6:00 AM(at noon, at midnight) |
a day ago (second, minute, hour, , week, month, year) |
this monday (week, month, year) "the near, recent one" |
on January 10 (Thursday) |
last night (week, month, winter, year) |
that monday (week, month, year) |
in January (month) / in 2006 (year) / |
yesterday
|
these/ those weeks (days, months, years) |
in the 1960s (the 1800s, the early times) |
||
|
||
| PAST & PAST PROGRESSIVE ADVERBS | ||
|---|---|---|
Past progressive verbs are used with adverbs specifying a past time, or expressing duration. The emphasis is on time. |
||
| RELATIVE TIME | FREQUENCY | DURATION |
A time relative to another past activity |
A time that reoccurred in the past |
A time with duration in the past |
when he saw it¹ |
always (routinely, customarily, as a rule) |
for three weeks (days, months, years) "a quantity of time" |
while he was looking at it¹ |
usually (in general, normally) |
from Monday to Friday (a span of time) |
whenever he looked at it² |
often (frequently, half of the time) / |
during the 1960s (a period of time) |
anytime he looked at it² |
sometimes (occasionally, on occasion) |
over the past few years (days, months) |
if he looked at it |
rarely (seldom, hardly ever, not ever, never) |
continuously (continually) |
several times (nonprogressive only)
*Using that / those distances the speaker from the time mentioned.
Related page: Adverbs of Time ; also see Past Adverbs, Short / Long Duration.
Past Progressive
Word Order
| AUXILIARY VERB | SUBJECT | AUXILIARY VERB | MAIN VERB | ADVERBIAL PHRASE | CLAUSE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STATEMENT | |||||
Alison |
was |
living |
in San Francisco. |
|
|
Alison and her friend |
were |
living |
in San Francisco. |
|
|
| QUESTION | |||||
Was |
Alison |
|
living |
in San Francisco? |
|
Were |
Alison and her friend |
|
living |
in San Francisco? |
|
| *TAG QUESTION | |||||
Alison |
was |
living |
in San Francisco, |
wasn't she? |
|
Alison and her friend |
were |
living |
in San Francisco, |
weren't they? |
|
| NEGATIVE | |||||
|
Alison |
wasn't (not) |
living |
in San Francisco. |
|
|
Alison and her friend |
were n' t (not) |
not living |
in San Francisco. |
|
| †EMPHASIS | |||||
|
Alison |
was |
living |
in San Francisco. |
|
|
Alison and her friend |
were |
living |
in San Francisco. |
|
*A tag question can also occur with a negative main sentence and a positive final question: Alison wasn't living in San Francisco, was she? Related page: And so / too
†Use emphasis word order when contradicting or stating that the opposite is true: "I think that Alison wasn't living in San Francisco." "No, she was living there."
Common Mistakes
Errors and Solutions
| ERRORS | SOLUTION |
|---|---|
I took the train when I was living in San Francisco. |
I took the train when I lived in San Francisco. |
I was was getting lost several times. |
I got lost several times.
(Use nonprogressive with "several times".) |
I was living there since June 2010. |
I was living there in June 2010. (I lived there temporarily during that period.) |
Practice
The San Francisco Street Scene
Union Square in San Francisco, California
Read the Paragraph
As I (walk) in downtown San Francisco, I saw so many things that were so San Francisco. Union Square, in the center of the city, was filled with people who (go) here and there. People (look) at paintings, jewelry and photographs along the sidewalks as they were walking. A huge balloon (float) above the people as they walked across the square. Buses, cars, and taxis (rush) around the square, but inside the square it was peaceful and calm. On one side of the square, a man (sing) opera while his partner did a series of magic tricks.
On the other side of the square, a man and woman painted silver (stand) like statues. A homeless man (sit) on a curb talking to his dog, and the dog (bark) back at him. Two men, who (wear) brightly-colored costumes with orange feathers and who (talk) a mile a minute, nearly ran into me. The sound of a fire engine (approach) as I descended into the BART (subway) station and left the noisy city above.
a mile a minute (expression) – very fast, rapidly
approach (v.) – come closer, nearer
bark (v.) – the sound a dog makes
costume (n.) – a set of clothes worn by an actor or performer
curb (n.) – edge of the sidewalk next to the street
descended (v.) – went down (stairs)
float (v.) – move slowly, stay up in the air
here and there – in every direction
hurriedly (adv.) – moving in a fast manner; at a quick pace
nearly ran into (v.) – almost crashed into or knocked over
scene (adj.) – the sights, sounds, and activity of a place
so + noun (expression) – typical of a place or person, That's so you, or That's so Parisian.
statue (n.) – a figure, often of a famous person, made of stone or bronze
square (n.) – a place that is the central plaza, an open city space for walking and enjoying
Select the verb forms for past or past progressive.
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