Past Continuous Video

My latest Youtube video is a story using the past continuous.

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Here's the script of the video:

The Haunted House - A past continuous story

I was waking my dog, Max. It was starting to get dark. We were walking past an old, abandoned house when Max ran off and into the house. I called out to him, but he didn't come back. I walked towards the house and went through the open door. I was scared. I was looking for Max when I thought I saw a ghost. But when I walked closer, I saw that it was just a white curtain that was blowing in the wind. I was calling Max's name when I heard a crash from one of the rooms. I was terrified. I was walking into the room when a black cat ran past me. Then I heard Max barking in the backyard. He was digging up bones in the garden! He was digging in a pet cemetery. I grabbed Max's leash and ran home as fast as I could.

Now let's review the grammar used in this story.

The story used the past continuous to describe unfinished actions as they were happening within the story.

The past continuous has three main functions:
1. to describe background in a story
2. to describe actions in progress in the past
3. and to describe longer actions interrupted by shorter actions

This chart shows the grammar we need to make past continuous sentences. Let's look at some examples from the story.

It was starting to get dark. This sentence set the scene for the story.

I was walking my dog. This event was happening for a period of time in the story.

I was calling Max's name when I heard a crash. Here the action of calling his dog's name was interrupted by the scary sound that he heard.

English Chit Chat. Past Continuous Video

A story using the past continuous for English learners. The video begins with an explanation of how we use the past continuous.

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Here are some warm-up questions to answer before watching the video:
1. Do you believe in aliens? If so, what do you think they look like?
2. Have you ever seen something strange in the sky? If so, what did you see?
3. Would you like to travel in space? Why, why not?

Here are some questions to answer after watching the video:
1. What was Brian doing when he heard a strange noise from outside?
2. How were the aliens communicating with Brian?
3. What did the aliens want?
4. What was Brian doing when his alarm clock began to ring?

Brian's Alien Adventure

It happened one night last summer. My parents were visiting a friend’s home, and I was at home alone. I was taking a nap, when I heard a strange noise from outside. I went into the garden and couldn’t believe what I saw. Three spaceships were hovering over my house.

I was looking up at the UFOs when a beam of light came down and surrounded me. I was lifted off the ground and floated up into the spaceship.

I was trapped inside the spaceship! I was very scared. In the darkness, I could see the reflection of big eyes that were looking at me. They came forward into the light: they were aliens! But I wasn’t afraid anymore. They didn’t talk to me, but I heard their thoughts. They were communicating with me by telepathy. I understood that they were friendly. They wanted to learn about our planet and the creatures that lived there.

We were travelling through space, past the moon, and the Earth was soon just a tiny dot of light in the distance. I was talking to the aliens by thought, and they soon learnt everything I had ever known. Suddenly I felt very tired and I lay down and fell asleep. I was dreaming of distant worlds when I heard my alarm clock begin to ring. I was back in my own bed at home! Was it all just a dream?