What is Past Continuous Tense? The Form of Past Continuous Tense

25 future. Present is the situation that has been described as simultaneous with the moment of speaking Susan cook rice. Second is the past, which describes the situation has been done in the past Susan cooked rice yesterday. Then, the third is the future, which describes the situation that will happen or related subsequent to the moment of speaking Susan will cook rice tomorrow. 2. What is Past Continuous Tense? In English, form of the verbs will be changed depend on when the situation is taken. The patterns that change the situations are taken, it called tense. Tenses can be classified to three situations; present, past and future. Past tense indicates an activity in the past. Based on the time activity is taken, past tense consists of simple past tense, past continuous tense, past perfect tense, and past perfect continuous tense. 54 Therefore, to indicate that an activity or state was continuing at the time when another activity occurred, the past continuous tense may be used. 55 The people use the Past Continuous Tense to say that somebody was in the middle of doing something at past time. The action or situation had already started before this time but had not finished.  Matt burned his hand while he was cooking dinner.  I saw you in the park yesterday. You were sitting on the grass and reading a book. Betty Schramper Azar and Stacy A. Hagen explain that past continuous focuses on the situation as being in progress at a particular time in the past. In consequence, it may imply that the situation has limited duration, and it is not necessarily complete. 56 Here is the chart of past continuous tense: 57 54 Otong Setiawan Djuharie, Functional English Grammar, Bandung: Yrama Widya, 2008, p. 79. 55 A.S. Hornby, Guide to Patterns and Usage in English, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975, second edition, p. 86. 56 Sidney Greenbaum and Randoph Quirk, A Students’ Grammar of the English Language, ....., p.53. 57 Betty Schrampfer Azar, Understanding and Using English Grammar, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall Regents, 1989, p. 3. 26 Figure 2.3. The Chart of Past Continuous Tense x x Milada Broukal in her book “Grammar Form and Function 3” said that the past continuous is formed with the past of „be + the –ing form’, as follows: 58 Table 2.5. The Forms of Past Continuous Tense Subjects to be -ing form I Was working You Were She Was He Was It Was working We Were They Were From the statement above the writer concludes that Past Continuous Tense is a tense that is formed with the past of ’to be’ + the –ing form and it is used to describe an action or activity which occurring in the past situation. The action or the situation is not necessarily complete.

3. The Form of Past Continuous Tense

Continuous verbs also called „progressive’ are formed by adding „-ing’ to the base form and using it with the verb „to be’. The forms of the past continuous tense are: a Affirmative Sentence The forms of past continuous tense with were or was followed by the main verb in an -ing form: subject + waswere + -ing form + C. Example: 58 Milada Broukal and Ingrid Wisniewska, Grammar Form and Function 3, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005, p. 445. 27  They were collecting the assignment.  She was buying that book. The form of past continuous tense with was or were followed by the adjective: subject + waswere + being + adjective + C. Example:  They were being hungry.  He was being comfort with that chair. b Negative Sentence The forms of past continuous tense with were or was followed by the main verb in an -ing form: subject + waswere + not + -ing form + C. Example:  They were not collecting the assignment.  She was not buying that book. The form of past continuous tense with was or were followed by the adjective: subject + being + not + adjective + C. Example:  They were not being hungry.  He was not being comfort with that chair. c Yes No Question The form of past continuous tense with were or was followed by the main verb in an -ing form: waswere + subject + -ing form + C. Example:  Were they collecting the assignment?  Was she buying that book? The form of past continuous tense with was or were followed by the adjective: waswere + subject + being + adjective + C. Example:  Were they being hungry?  Was he being comfort with that chair? 59 59 Martin Parrot, Grammar for English Language, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989, p.198. 28 d Wh- Question The form of past continuous tense use the wh- words what, where, when, how, which, why, who, and whom followed by was or were: wh- words + waswere + -ing form + C. Example:  Who was playing that loud music when I called you?  Why was the audience laughing at the end of the movie? 60 The pattern of past continuous tense can summarize as follows: Table 2.6. The Pattern of Past Continuous Tense Affirmative sentence IHeSheIt was -ing form WeYouThey were Negative sentence IHeSheIt was not WeYouThey were not YesNo Question Was IHeSheIt Were WeYouThey Wh- Question Wh- words was IHeSheIt -ing form were WeYouThey

4. The Use of Past Continuous Tense