Past Progressive / Continuous

Past progressive tense is used to indicate that an action was in progress when another action occurred in the past.

Past progressive (was/were + Ving) refers to the action in progress, and simple past tense refers to the "interrupting" action.

    While I was eating dinner, the telephone rang.

    The telephone rang while I was eating dinner.

    When the telephone rang, I was eating dinner.

    I was eating dinner when the telephone rang.

Past continuous can also be used to indicate only one action which occurred in the past:

    What was John doing yesterday?

    He was working at the factory.

    What were they doing yesterday afternoon?

    They were playing soccer.

    What were you doing last night?

    I was studying English.

 

 

 

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Can we use verb "begin" in Past Progressive?
written by sivansak, December 16, 2009
To Free-English-Study.

Can you tell me which of these 2 sentences are correct?
Or it both correct but in different meaning?

1. When it was beginning to snow, the electricity went out.
2. When it began to snow, the went out.

Can verb "begin" use in -ing form?
Example: It was beginning to rain.

Thank you indeed in advance!

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