How to use Past Continuous tense

[070281achilles]

Hi!
Can anyone help me with the use of Past Continuous tense. What I know about this tense is that there is an ongoing past event when another event occured.
Ex. I was driving when my wife called.
Can anybody give more detail about this tense and when it is used?
Thanks...

 

[probus]

You've expressed it precisely. Something was in the process of occurring when another event took place. I can't improve upon the grammatical explanation. The best I can do is to give some more examples.

As I was going to St Ives, I met a man with seven wives.
We were just minding our own business, when all hell broke loose.
A very large aftershock began just as I was thinking that the earthquake was over.
I was dreaming of scoring a hat-trick, but it was not to be.

 

[Raymott]

That is one use of the past continuous tense. It is certainly not necessary for two actions to occur.

A: What were you doing at 1pm?"
B: I was driving my car." (Past progressive; no intervening event)

 

[070281achilles]

Thanks a lot...
All cleared...

 

[070281achilles]

Thanks...

 

[emsr2d2]

Please note there is no need to add new posts to say "Thanks". There's certainly no need to add two posts for it! Simply click on the Like button on any post which you found helpful. By doing that, we don't have to take time re-opening the thread and scrolling down to the new post only to find that it contains no new information and no follow-up questions.

In addition, a sentence should finish with just one (appropriate) punctuation mark. We don't end sentences with "..." as you did twice.

 

[070281achilles]

I still have to learn how to use this forum.
Thanks for the advice anyway.
One last thing though, how do I close a thread without posting. Sorry for the bother, I use a phone in viewing the page that's why I always have a hard timeposting things
Thanks again.

 

[5jj]

Only moderators can close threads permanently.