The past progressive tense using ‘writing’
Iwas writing.
Youwere writing.
He, shewas writing.
Wewere writing.
Theywere writing.Checking the tenses
Both the present progressive and the past progressive tenses
use thepresentparticiple notthepast. Mistakes are often
made with the verb ‘to sit’.
Iwassat in my place.This is wrong. ‘Sat’ is thepastparticiple of the verb to ‘to sit’
and should be used with the verb ‘to have’not‘to be’. The
sentenceshouldread:
Iwassitting in my place. (verb ‘to be’ + the present
participle)or
Ihad sat in my place. (verb ‘to have’ + the past participle)The progressive aspect of the verb can also be used in the
perfect tense. This also suggests a continuous action. In this
case the past participle of the verb ‘to be’, ‘been’ is placed
with the verb ‘to have’ and the verb that is being used.
Present perfect progressive tense
The babyhas been crying all day.FOLLOWING GRAMMATICAL GUIDELINES / 15