Practice Past Continuous with 40 multiple choice questions across four sets: affirmative, negative, questions, and a mixed review with when/while. Pick the correct form and check your answers.
Set:
Exercise 1. Affirmative: choose was / were
Past Continuous uses was / were + verb-ing. Use was with I / he / she / it, and were with you / we / they.
Set:
1
She ___ reading a book at 9 PM last night.
2
I ___ cooking dinner when you called.
3
They ___ playing football all afternoon.
4
He ___ working from home yesterday.
5
We ___ watching a film at that time.
6
The dog ___ sleeping on the sofa all morning.
7
You ___ doing a great job during the test.
8
My parents ___ visiting my aunt this time last week.
9
It ___ raining all night long.
10
The children ___ making a lot of noise when I arrived.
+ Affirmative
Subjectwas / wereverb-ing.
I was sleeping. · She was reading. · They were playing.
− Negative
Subjectwasn't / weren'tverb-ing.
I wasn't sleeping. · She wasn't reading. · They weren't playing.
? Question
Was / Weresubjectverb-ing?
Was I sleeping? · Was she reading? · Were they playing?
Which auxiliary to use
Subject
+
−
?
I
was working
wasn't working
Was I working?
He / She / It ★
was working
wasn't working
Was he working?
You / We / They
were working
weren't working
Were you working?
★ Key rule: I and He/She/It both use was. Only You/We/They use were. She was working ✅ She were working ❌ I was sleeping ✅ I were sleeping ❌
Short answers
Was she reading?
Yes, she was.
No, she wasn't.
Were they coming?
Yes, they were.
No, they weren't.
Were you working?
Yes, I was.
No, I wasn't.
When & While: key patterns
Interrupted action. Past Continuous + when + Past Simple
✗ I cooked when the phone rang.
✓ I was cooking when the phone rang.
Parallel actions: while + Past Continuous … Past Continuous
✓ While she was reading, he was cooking.
Time expressions
at 8 o'clockat that timethis time yesterdaywhenwhileall morningall eveningall nightall day long