一、過去進行時的構成
　　
　　現將行為動詞(以work為例)的過去進行時的肯定式,否定式和疑問式的構成列表如下:
　　

動詞	肯定式	否定式
work	I/He/She/It was working.	I/He/She/It wasn't working.
	We/You/They were working.	We/Yow/They weren't working.
動詞	疑問式	簡答
work	Was I/he/she/it working?	Yes,I/he/she/it was.(No,I/he/she/it wasn't.)
	Were we/you/they working?	Yes,we/you/they were.(No,we/you/they weren't.)

　　過去進行時由“was/were+現在分詞”構成。was not常簡略為wasn't;were not常簡略為 weren't。
　　
　　二、過去進行時的用法
　　
　　1.表示在過去某一時刻或某一段時間內正在進行或持續進行的動作。如:
　　
　　What were you doing at this time yesterday?
　　
　　昨天這個時候你在做什么?
　　
　　The teacher was giving us a lesson when Tom walked into the room.
　　
　　湯姆走進教室時,老師正在給我們上課。
　　
　　While we were having dinner, all the lights went out.
　　
　　當我們正在吃飯時,所有的燈都滅了。
　　
　　2.在敘述故事時,常用過去進行時來描述故事發生時的背景。如:
　　
　　One day we were walking along a road which went round the foot of a mountain...
　　
　　有一天我們在山腳邊的一條路上走....
　　
　　3.表示從過去某時看要發生的事。如:
　　
　　I asked him whether he was coming back for dinner.
　　
　　我問他是否回來吃晚飯。
　　
　　I went to see Xiao Wang,as she was leaving early the next morning.
　　
　　我去看小王,因為她第二天一早就要走。