Past Continuous

 

We use the past continuous when we talk about things that were happening at a particular time in the past. The action started before, and probably went on after that particular time. It is formed this way:

 

I was
     
You were
     
He
She
It
was VERB+ing
     
We
You
They
were  

 

They were still playing tennis at 4 o'clock
They started playing tennis before 4 o'clock, and they probably went on afterwards.

It was still raining at lunch-time.
This means that it started to rain before lunch-time and it went on fpr sime time after lunch.

We make questions and negative phrases in the past continuous like this:
What was she doing at 10 o'clock last night? -She wasn't doing anything special.
Were they having breakfast when I rang? -No, they weren't.