一、过去进行时的构成
　　
　　现将行为动词(以work为例)的过去进行时的肯定式,否定式和疑问式的构成列表如下:
　　

动词	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.
动词	疑问式	简答
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.)

　　过去进行时由“was/were+现在分词”构成。was not常简略为wasn't;were not常简略为 weren't。
　　
　　二、过去进行时的用法
　　
　　1.表示在过去某一时刻或某一段时间内正在进行或持续进行的动作。如:
　　
　　What were you doing at this time yesterday?
　　
　　昨天这个时候你在做什么?
　　
　　The teacher was giving us a lesson when Tom walked into the room.
　　
　　汤姆走进教室时,老师正在给我们上课。
　　
　　While we were having dinner, all the lights went out.
　　
　　当我们正在吃饭时,所有的灯都灭了。
　　
　　2.在叙述故事时,常用过去进行时来描述故事发生时的背景。如:
　　
　　One day we were walking along a road which went round the foot of a mountain...
　　
　　有一天我们在山脚边的一条路上走....
　　
　　3.表示从过去某时看要发生的事。如:
　　
　　I asked him whether he was coming back for dinner.
　　
　　我问他是否回来吃晚饭。
　　
　　I went to see Xiao Wang,as she was leaving early the next morning.
　　
　　我去看小王,因为她第二天一早就要走。