Past Continuous Exercises, Quiz, Worksheet

Past Continuous - Exercises and Quiz

These exercises focus on using Past Continuous for actions happening in the past.

The Past Continuous tense describes:

The sun was shining, and the birds were singing. (Setting the scene in a story.)

To form the Past Continuous, we use:

[Subject] + [was/were] + [verb + ing]

Spelling Rules for -ing Verbs

When adding -ing to verbs, follow these rules:

Rule	Example
Most verbs – Just add -ing	play → playing
Verbs ending in -e – Drop e and add -ing	make → making
Verbs with one vowel + one consonant – Double the consonant and add -ing	run → running
Verbs ending in -ie – Change ie to y and add -ing	lie → lying

❌ She cooking dinner.
✅ She was cooking dinner.

❌ They was playing soccer.
✅ They were playing soccer.

❌ I was eat dinner when she called me.
✅ I was eating dinner when she called me.

We do not use the Past Continuous tense with stative verbs (verbs that describe feelings, thoughts, possession, or senses).

Common stative verbs:
like, love, hate, know, understand, believe, want, need, have (possession), see, hear, smell, taste.

You can use the Past Continuous tense in many situations:

Use Past Continuous for ongoing actions (I was reading) and Past Simple for completed actions (I read a book).

Have a look at this lesson to understand the difference between Past Simple vs Past Continuous.

No, for future plans, use Present Continuous or "going to". (I am meeting my friend tomorrow.)

Because “know” is a stative verb. It describes a state, not an action. Use “I knew” instead.

Yes! Just add not after the helping verb: