The past continuous describes actions that took place at some time before now and continued for a period of time. It is most often used to describe a past action or state that was in progress when another action happened.
- The road workers were having lunch from 12 to 1.
- I was working in a convenience store before I decided to go back to school.
- The proposal was still being written when she asked for an update.
This lesson will look at a few other ways to use the past continuous.
Using while with the past continuous
You can use the conjunction while with the past continuous to express that an action or state was (or wasn't) occurring at the same time as another action.
- She was injured while she was skiing.
- I didn’t have very much free time while I was working last summer.
- Why didn’t they add a community garden while they were improving the park?
- Julia was catching up on her emails while she was waiting for her appointment.
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