THE PAST CONTINUOUS
1. THE PAST CONTINUOUS IN AFFIRMATIVE SENTENCES Las frases afirmativas en pasado continuo se forman con WAS/WERE + la raiz del verbo + ING. Las reglas ortogrficas son las mismas que las del presente continuo. Sujeto + was/were + verbo + ing + compl. Richard was doing his homework Dan and Alex were playing tennis all day Susan was cooking all morning
5. THE PAST QUESTIONS
CONTINUOUS
IN
WH-
En estas preguntas debemos cambiar el orden del sujeto y del verbo auxiliar, como lo hacamos en las del tipo yes/no, y sustituir la informacin sobre la que preguntamos por la partcula interrogativa correspondiente. Wh-question + was/were + sujeto + verb + ing + compl.? I was visiting my grandparents last night Who were you visiting last night? She was going to the library when I met her Where was she going when you met her?
2. THE PAST CONTINUOUS IN NEGATIVE SENTENCES Las frases negativas en pasado continuo se forman poniendo not despus de WAS/WERE y antes del verbo principal. Es frecuente encontrar las formas contradas WASNT y WERENT. Sujeto + was/were + not + verbo + ing + compl. She wasnt reading at 8 oclock last night They werent playing basketball
6. USES OF THE PAST CONTINUOUS El pasado continuo se usa para describir una accin que se estaba desarrollando, pero no estaba acabada, en un momento determinado del pasado. Dan was playing tennis at 6 oclock yesterday evening.
3. THE PAST CONTINUOUS IN WH-SUBJECT QUESTIONS Para preguntar por el sujeto de la una oracin, ste se sustituye por WHO o WHAT y el resto de la oracin se mantiene en el mismo orden. Hay que tener en cuenta que estas preguntas siempre van en tercera persona del singular, con lo que en algunos casos habr que cambiar el verbo auxiliar. John and James were speaking to her at the party Who was speaking to her at the party? Kathys dog was barking What was barking? CONTINUOUS IN YES/NO
Tambin se utiliza para describir acciones que ocurrieron al mismo tiempo en el pasado. En este caso solemos utilizar la palabra WHILE para unir las dos acciones. Mary was reading while John was writing
El pasado continuo se utiliza frecuentemente para describir una accin que est en proceso y es interrumpida por otra. La accin que interrumpe suele ir en pasado simple e introducida por la partcula WHEN: Mary was playing the piano when Daisy arrived. David was sleeping when the phone rang.
4. THE PAST QUESTIONS
* Tanto WHILE como WHEN pueden ir antes o despus de la oracin principal, pero cuando la oracin subordinada va delante tenemos que separarla con una coma. They were reading when the phone rang -When the phone rang, they were reading Dan was doing his homework while Jane was watching TV -- While Jane was watching TV, Dan was doing his homework.
Para formar preguntas del tipo yes/no en pasado continuo tenemos que cambiar el orden del sujeto y del verbo auxiliar (was/were), el resto de la oracin no vara. Was/were + sujeto + verbo + ing + compl? He was doing his homework his homework? Was he doing
A estas preguntas se puede contestar tanto con respuesta corta como larga.