Learn the English past progressive tense
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Daniel: Daniel here. |
| Chihiro: Chihiro here. Beginner series, season one, lesson thirteen. “I was always asking Questions.” Hello and welcome to the beginner series, season one at EnglishClass101.com, where we study modern English in a fun, educational format. |
| Daniel: So brush up on the English that you started learning long ago, or start learning today. |
| Chihiro: Thanks for being here with us for this lesson. Daniel, what are we looking at in this lesson? |
| Daniel: In this lesson, you will learn how to talk about things that have lasted over a period of time in the past. |
| Chihiro: This conversation takes place at Innovative University, (IU). |
| Daniel: The conversation is between Naomi and Vicky, two IU students. |
| Chihiro: The speakers are friends, therefore the speakers will be speaking casually. |
| Daniel: Now before we listen to the conversation, we want to ask you if you read the lesson notes while you listen. |
| Chihiro: Yes, this is a really good study tip. |
| Daniel: Let us know if you’ve tried it and what you think of it. |
| Chihiro: You can leave us feedback in the comments section of this lesson. |
| Daniel: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Naomi: Hey Vicky, did you forget our study date at ten this morning? |
| Vicky: I'm sorry, Naomi. At ten, I was talking with my professor and couldn't get away. I'm sorry. I should have called. |
| Naomi: That's okay. So, how did the meeting go with the professor? |
| Vicky: It went fine. He gave me an extension on my paper and I can still take the midterm. How was your study group yesterday? |
| Naomi: Well, we were studying together during lunch when I noticed an old friend of mine from high school in the |
| same café! My concentration quickly switched from class to catching up with my friend, so I didn't get much done. You've taken that class before, right? |
| Vicky: Yeah, last semester. I was always asking questions in that class because it was so difficult! |
| Naomi: Well, I was hoping that you could lend me a hand with my paper; I can't think of anything else to write! |
| Vicky: Sure, no problem, that is, if you can help me study for our history test. |
| Naomi: Sounds like a deal. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Daniel: I remember those never-ending papers I had to do... |
| Chihiro: Me too... spending hours in the library, researching, writing, then rewriting... |
| Daniel: Yeah, staying up late trying to finish by the deadline... Anyways, good reminiscing. Tell us Chihiro, what is the student union that Vicky and Oksana are talking about? |
| Chihiro: Well, many universities have student unions, which is a place for social activities for students. |
| Organizations can use this area to meet, or students can use the area to just hang out. |
| Daniel: Right, the facility may include things like a study area, common area, shops, restaurants, and even forms of entertainment. |
| Chihiro: That's right. For example, my student union in university had a bowling alley and a small arcade. |
| Daniel: It's a great place just to hang out with other students and friends. |
| Chihiro: Oh, by the way listeners, be sure to check the explanations about the progressive aspect in Lesson 7 and review the entire aspect system in Lessons 6 through 9 with the audio and the PDFs. Practice listening to the dialogues to help your ability to notice the grammar forms and write examples in the comments on the website. |
| Daniel: Practice listening to the dialogues to help your ability to notice the grammar forms and write examples in the comments on the website. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Chihiro: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is: |
| Daniel: extension [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: increased length of time |
| Daniel: extension [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: extension [natural native speed] |
| Next... |
| paper [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: flat material made from trees that is often white to write on |
| paper [slowly - broken down by syllable] paper [natural native speed] |
| Next... |
| Daniel: to sit [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: to take an examination |
| Daniel: to sit [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: to sit [natural native speed] |
| Next... |
| to shift [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: to replace with another, to exchange |
| to shift [slowly - broken down by syllable] to shift [natural native speed] |
| Next... |
| Daniel: to catch up [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: to compensate for lateness |
| Daniel: to catch up [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: to catch up [natural native speed] |
| Next... |
| to lend a hand [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: to help |
| to lend a hand [slowly - broken down by syllable] to lend a hand [natural native speed] |
| Next... |
| Daniel: deal [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: agreement or transaction between people |
| Daniel: deal [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: deal [natural native speed] |
| Next... |
| library [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: a place where books are kept for use but not for sale |
| library [slowly - broken down by syllable] library [natural native speed] |
| Next... |
| Daniel: during [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: throughout the duration of, occurring at the same time |
| Daniel: during [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: during [natural native speed] |
| Next... |
| concentration [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: very close attention to one thing |
| concentration [slowly - broken down by syllable] concentration [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Chihiro: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Daniel: The first phrase we’ll look at is "catch you later". |
| Chihiro: This is just another way of saying "see you later" and can be used interchangeably. |
| Daniel: Right, so you can use either one when saying goodbye. Both are friendly and casual. For example, |
| Chihiro: Ok Daniel, catch you later! |
| Daniel: Uh, Chihiro, before we go, we should do the grammar point. |
| Chihiro: Oh, right, of course! What are we looking at today? |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Daniel: The focus of this lesson is the past progressive as in, “I was always asking questions.” In Beginner Series, Season 1, Lesson 7 we learned about the progressive aspect. In this lesson, we focus on the combination of the progressive aspect and the past tense. This combination is usually called the past progressive or past continuous tense. In Lesson 7 we explained that the progressive aspect’s core meaning is “incomplete,” “changing”, “tentative”, or “unfinished.” And, in Lesson 12, we learned that the core meaning of the past tense is “remoteness” or “distance”, the most common remoteness being time. |
| Chihiro: Since you already know the core meaning of the past tense and of the progressive aspect, you are ready to look at verbs with the past progressive form and understand the grammar. To form the past progressive, we simply take the past tense of the auxiliary verb, that is the helping verb, which is usually the “be” verb, and follow it with the progressive tense of the main verb. Daniel, can you give us an example? |
| Daniel: Sure, I can say, “Chihiro was washing her hair when the phone rang.” The main verb in our example sentence is “wash”. Because Chihiro is a proper name, we take the past tense of “be” for the the 3rd person singular, which is “was.” Then we add the progressive form of the main verb “wash”, which is “washing”. And so, the past progressive is “was washing”. And, again, the example sentence is “Chihiro was washing her hair when the phone rang.” For more on the form of the progressive aspect, see the lesson notes in the PDF for Lesson 7. |
| Chihiro: Now, let’s look at examples from the dialogue to see how the past progressive is used. In the dialogue, when explaining why she missed the study date with Naomi, Vicky says, “I was talking with my professor and couldn’t get away.” In her sentence, “was” signals to us that the tense is past, and “talking” signals to us that the aspect is progressive. She uses the past tense because she is talking about a remote time, that is, 10 A.M. this morning. She uses the progressive, because that talking was in progress and unfinished when 10 A.M. came. In this case, she refers to a specific time. This is important with the progressive because there needs to be a point of reference. So, when talking about what was in progress at a specific time in the past, we can use the past progressive. |
| Daniel: Ok, the next example we will look at is when Naomi tells Vicky, “We were studying together during lunch when I noticed an old friend of mine from high |
| school in the same café!” The point of reference in this sentence is when she noticed her friend. And since that event is remote in time, that is, in the past, she uses the past tense of “be” for “we,” which is “were”. The main verb of the event is “study”, which is changed to “studying” because it was incomplete when the other event, that is, noticing her friend, happened. So, when talking about two events where one event is thought of as complete, the other incomplete action can use the past progressive. |
| Chihiro: OK, next we will look at the sentence that Vicky says to Naomi, “I was always asking questions in that class because it was so difficult!” Vicky uses the past tense of “be” for “I,” which is “was” because she is talking about a remote event, that is, a class in the past. She uses the progressive aspect for “ask,” which is “asking” because the asking was repeating during that class. So, when talking about a repeating, ongoing past action, we can use the past progressive. |
| Daniel: And the last example we will look at is when Naomi tells Vicky, “I was hoping that you could lend me a hand with my paper.” Naomi is asking a favor of Vicky in this case, so she uses the past tense of “be”, that is, “was”, to show remoteness for social distancing. In Lesson 12 we saw Vicky use the simple past this way to ask a favor of her professor. But, Naomi also uses the progressive aspect because it shows tentativeness. By combining the past tense and progressive aspect, she is showing even greater social distancing than the simple past. In other words, she is being even more polite. So, when we want to make a really polite request, we can use the past progressive. |
| Chihiro: So, to review, we use the past progressive to talk about an event that was incomplete in reference to a specific time, an event that was incomplete in reference to another event that is now complete, an event that was repeating and ongoing in the past, and to make very polite requests that require social distancing. By focusing on the core meaning of both the progressive aspect and the past tense, we can recognize the differences in meaning and use. |
Outro |
| Daniel: That just about does it for today. |
| Chihiro: But before we go, we want to tell you about a way to drastically improve your pronunciation. |
| Daniel: The voice recording tool. |
| Chihiro: Yes, the voice recording tool in the premium learning center. |
| Daniel: Record your voice with the click of a button. |
| Chihiro: And then play it back just as easily. |
| Daniel: So you record your voice and then listen to it. |
| Chihiro: Compare it to the native speakers |
| Daniel: And adjust your pronunciation |
| Chihiro: This will help you improve your pronunciation fast. Until next time, everyone. |
| Daniel: Take care, everyone. |
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