67 Past Continuous Tense Examples (Plus a Downloadable Chart)

Sometimes the best way to learn a new verb tense is to see some examples of it in action. By reading and analyzing these past continuous tense examples, you can improve your own sentences.

Before you start, you should make sure that you have a good foundation in the grammar and uses of the past continuous. We have that, and some exercises you can do, over on our past continuous grammar page.

After that, you can download our examples chart and look at all of our sample sentences on this page.

The next step is to practice writing your own sentences using this tense. If you have some sentences that you want us to check, comment on this post or click on the image below. We can do our best to correct your sentences and help you improve.

Click here to ask your questions.
24 Past Continuous Sentence Examples 

Positive Sentences: 
She was living in London.
He was training for the big game.
Tim was skipping class.
They were donating money and food.
I was sleeping there all night.
Joe and Ted were fighting.

Negative Sentences:
She was not running.
It wasn't raining that night.
We were not playing games yesterday.
They weren't studying at all.
I was not trying to win.
You weren't sleeping when I came home.

Positive Questions:
Was he writing last night?
Were you snoring?
When was she studying?
Why were they flying kites?
How was it updating so fast?
Was she competing yesterday?

Negative Questions:
Weren't you living on campus?
Was she not just drinking tea?
When wasn't he playing soccer?
How were they not failing this class?
Wasn't it snowing last night?
Wasn't he running quickly?

1. Positive Past Continuous Tense Examples

1. I was going to run in the park, but then I decided to go to bed instead.

2. You were swimming in the pool all day.

3. He was trying to solve the problem last week.

4. She was planning his birthday party yesterday.

5. It was running out of battery when it turned off.

6. We were hoping that you might want to go to the park with us.

7. They were reading in the library while the rest of the class was playing tag. 

8. John and Susan were having lunch when the power went out.

2. Negative Past Continuous Tense Examples

1a. I was not skipping out on class last week.
1b. I wasn’t skipping out on class last week.

2a. You were not ice skating when I came over last winter.
2b. You weren’t ice skating when I came over last winter. 

3a. He was not trying very hard on the test.
3b. He wasn’t trying very hard on the test.

4a. She was not eating dinner when you came home.
4b. She wasn’t eating dinner when you came home.

5a. It was not flying very well.
5b. It wasn’t flying very well.

6a. We were not behaving very well in class yesterday.
6b. We weren’t behaving very well in class yesterday. 

7a. They were not sitting in their seats when the teacher came in.
7b. They weren’t sitting in their seats when the teacher came in.

3. Positive Past Continuous Questions

1. When was I walking in the park?

2. What were you playing last night?

3. Why was he shouting at her?

4. How was she still living in New York last year?

5. Was it updating last night?

6. Were we watching TV when they got home?

7. When were they planning to ask me about my new job?

4. Negative Past Continuous Questions

1a. Wasn’t I just telling you that?
1b. Was I not just telling you that?

2a. Weren’t you going to try to go to London next year?
2b. Were you not going to try to go to London next year?

3a. Wasn’t he writing that novel over a year ago?
3b. Was he not writing that novel over a year ago?

4a. Wasn’t she listening to you?
4b. Was she not listening to you?

5a. Wasn’t it playing music really loudly?
5b. Was it not playing music really loudly?

6a. Weren’t we looking good when we went to the party?
6b. Were we not looking good when we went to the party?

7a. Weren’t they having a good time?
7b. Were they not having a good time? 

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