The Past Continuous
How can we make the past continuous? Firstly, check that you know how to make the past simple with 'be' (subject + was / were). Then just add verb-ing.
Here's the positive form:
I was sleeping
you were working
he was coming
she was reading 'War and Peace'
it was raining
we were shopping
they were watching a film
Next, here's the negative - it's very easy, just add 'not':
I was not (wasn't) sleeping
you were not (weren't) working
he was not (wasn't) coming
she was not (wasn't) reading 'War and Peace'
it was not (wasn't) raining
we were not (weren't) shopping
they were not (weren't) watching a film
Here's an exercise about the positive and negative verb forms
And, just like the past simple with 'be', to make a 'yes / no' question, put 'was / were' in front of the subject:
Was I listening?
Were you working?
Was she working?
Was he living in Paris at the time?
Was it snowing when you arrived?
Were we eating?
Were they studying?
To make a 'wh' question (of course) put the question word at the beginning:
Why was I working?
Where were you living?
How was she travelling?
Where was he going?
Why was it snowing in the summer?
What were we eating?
Why were they studying?
Using the Past Continuous
1: An action in the past which overlaps another action or a time. The action in the past continuous starts before and often continues after the other shorter action or time.
I was walking to the station when I met John. (I started walking before I met John, and maybe I continued afterwards.)
At three o'clock, I was working. (I started before three o'clock and finished after three o'clock.)
2: In the same way, we can use the past continuous for the background of a story. (We often use the past simple for the actions.) This is really a specific example of Use 1.
The birds were singing, the sun was shining and in the cafés people were laughing and chatting. Amy sat down and took out her phone.
3: Temporary habits or habits that happen more often than we expect in the past. We often use 'always', 'constantly' or 'forever' here. This is the same as the way we use the present continuous for habits, but the habit started and finished in the past. This thing doesn't happen now.
He was always leaving the tap running.
She was constantly singing.
4: To emphasise that something lasted for a while. This use is often optional and we usually use it with time expressions like 'all day' or 'all evening' or 'for hours'.
I was working in the garden all day.
He was reading all evening.
Remember you can't use this tense or any continuous tense with stative verbs.