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1. 1 Past Progressive
and Simple Past
Someone Stole His
Briefcase!
Focus on Grammar 3
Part I, Unit 4
By Ruth Luman, Gabriele Steiner, and BJ Wells
Copyright © 2006. Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. Reporting to the Police 1
I was was aboutcup of coffee,
It having a ten in the
morning, andwatching the in
and I was I was sitting
Maxi’s Caféin the City Park.
people near café.
What did you
What were
yousee?
doing?

3. Reporting to the Police 2
To my right,there was another young HeShe
Suddenly, there was a young woman. was
To my left, man. man. He
snatched the redand reading a ran away with it
was eating a huge dish of ice cream. She A
drinking coffee briefcase and newspaper.
big fast that no one knew what was happening.
so red briefcase was standing next to his feet.
was enjoying it.
After the man stole the briefcase,
we were all talking loudly. The
owner of the briefcase was very
upset!

4. Past Progressive
Use the past progressive to describe an action
that was in progress at a specific time in the past.
I was having coffee.
She was eating ice cream.
10 a.m.
now
past future
was having
was eating

5. Be Careful!
Non-action verbs are not usually used in the
progressive. Note the exception with have.
I was having a headache.
I had a headache.
I was having coffee.
She was having ice cream.
Here the meaning
of have is eat or drink.
drink

6. Past Progressive & Simple Past 1
Use past progressive with simple past to describe an
action that was interrupted by another action.
They were enjoying the
morning when the thief
stole the briefcase.
stole
now future
past were enjoying

7. Past Progressive & Simple Past 2
Use past progressive for the action in progress. Use
when and the simple past for the action that interrupts.
The man was reading the
newspaper when the thief
snatched his briefcase.
snatched
now
past future
was reading

8. Past Progressive & Simple Past 3
Use past progressive to focus on the duration of an action.
Use simple past to focus on the completion of an action.
I was sitting in Maxi’s Café
and watching the people there.
people.
The thief stole the briefcase
and ran away.
now
past future
was sitting / was watching

9. What were you and others
Practice 1 doing? Answer the questions
using the past progressive.
Example:
What were you doing when I called this morning?
I was trying to wake up when you called.
called
1. What were you doing when the phone rang last night?
2. What were your friends doing at 6 p.m. yesterday evening?
3. What were you doing last weekend?
4. What was the teacher doing when you first saw her/him today?

10. Past Progressive with While 1
Use past progressive with while to describe two
actions in progress at the same time in the past.
The man was reading
the newspaper while the
woman was eating her
ice cream.
now
past future
was reading
was eating

11. Past Progressive with While 2
Use past progressive with while to describe two
actions in progress at the same time in the past.
While
While I was describing
the theft, the police
the theft, the police
officer was writing
officer was writing
everything down.
everything down.
now
past future
was describing
was writing

12. Time Clauses
The time clause (= the part with while or when) can
come at the beginning or the end of the sentence.
no
co
mma
They were having coffee
when the thief snatched the briefcase.
When the thief snatched the briefcase ,
they were having coffee.
!!! a
m
com

13. Be Careful!
Sentences with both clauses in the simple past have a
different meaning from sentences with one clause in the
simple past and one in the past progressive.
When the waiter came,
came First the waiter
came; then I
I looked at the menu. looked at the
First I was
menu.
When the waiter came,
came looking at the
menu; then the
I was looking at the menu. waiter came.
came
now
past came was looking
future
looked

14. Form sentences with while.
Practice 2 Use the past progressive.
Example: read / steal
While the man was reading, the prisoner was stealing his wallet.
reading
1. talk / drink 3. play / watch 4. not look / burn
2. shine / splash 5. talk / sit
4. While the woman was not looking, the toastthe was
3. While one sun waswere talking, fountain waswas tea.
1.
2. man wasshininglookingthe other splashing.
5. While the woman was talking onthey phone, manman was
the women shining, the the were drinking
playing pool,
talking splashing
burning.
burning
sitting in the chair.
watching.
watching

15. References
Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education and
its licensors. All rights reserved.