过去进行时表示在过去某一时刻或某一段时间内正在进行或发生的动作，其形式为 was/ were+ v-ing。常与表示过去的时间状语连用，如： last night, last Saturday等；或者与 when, while, as引导的过去时间状语连用，它不强调动作是否完成。

一、过去进行时是表示过去某一时刻或某一时间内正在进行或发生的动作。可以从两个方面来理解：

1.过去某一时刻正在进行或发生的动作，如：

They were playing football at ten o'clock yesterday morning.

My mother was cooking when I got home.

I was washing my clothes at this time yesterday.

2.过去某阶段持续进行的动作，如：

What were you doing during the holiday?

另外，在复合句中，若主要动作和背景动作是同时发生的，那么主从句都可用过去进行时，其结构是助动词 be的过去形式 was/ were+ v-ing，如：

Jenny was reading while Danny was writing．

其句式变化仍然要在 be上做文章，如：

We were working in class．

We weren't working in class.

Were you working in class?

注意：过去进行时常与过去某一特定时间的状语连用，如 last night, at that time, at noon yesterday, last Sunday等。有时没有时间状语，要通过上下文的暗示来确定用过去进行时，如：

The students all worked hard.

Everyone knew what he was working for．

二、做题时常见错误如下：

1.易把 be+现在分词记成 be+过去分词，如：

He was talked to his mum at that time. (talk)

答案： was talking

解析：过去进行时与现在进行时结构上的区别体现在 be动词上。

2.丢掉 be动词或忘记把动词变成现在分词，如：

I watching TV when he came in. (watch)

答案： was watching

They were play games at 5:00 p. m. yesterday. (play)

答案： were playing

解析：现在进行时中“ be+现在分词，缺一不可”的规律也可应用于过去进行时。

3.对动词或动词词组提问时丢掉 doing，如：

We were( flying kites) at 5:00 p. m. yesterday.（对括号内部分提问）

What were you at 5:00 p. m. yesterday?

答案： What were you doing at 5:00 p. m. yesterday?

解析：现在进行时中“ What…… doing……?”句式同样适用于过去进行时。

4.易与现在进行时弄混，如：

My mother is cooking when I got home. (cook)

答案： was cooking

解析：这两种时态的共同点是都表示动作正在进行，但现在进行时前提是现在，而过去进行时前提是过去，由 when I got home可看出前提是过去。

5.易与一般过去时弄混，如：

昨晚我在读一本故事书。

I read a story book yesterday evening. (read)

答案： was reading

解析：这两种时态的共同点是都用于表示过去发生的动作，但过去进行时强调动作正在进行，而一般过去时则表示过去某一时间所发生的动作或存在的状态，它表示的动作往往已经完成。“ I read a story book yesterday evening”的意思是昨晚我读了一本故事书，言下之意已经读完了，而此处并无此意。

另外，在宾语从句中当主句为过去时，从句若是现在进行时，需变成过去进行时，如：

He said that he was drawing a cat at noon yesterday．

同学们，复习后感觉怎么样？是否对过去进行时有了一个更清晰的了解呢？