the tense used to talk about actions or behaviour that were begun and ended at some time in the past. The past continuous consists of ‘was’ or ‘were’ and a present participle. For example, in the sentences ‘She was shaking with cold’ and ‘Were they telling the truth?’, the verb groups ‘was shaking’ and ‘were telling’ are past continuous.
Synonyms and related words
Verb forms and tenses
aspect
auxiliary verb
conjugation
the past continuous
noun singular linguistics
US /ˌpæst kənˈtɪnjuəs/
DEFINITIONS1
1
the tense used to talk about actions or behavior that were begun and ended at some time in the past. The past continuous consists of “was” or “were” and a present participle. For example, in the sentences “She was shaking with cold” and “Were they telling the truth?”, the verb groups “was shaking” and “were telling” are past continuous.