(一)定義

　　過去進行時表示在過去某一時刻或某一段時間內(nèi)正在發(fā)生或進行的動作或狀態(tài)。如：

　　A fire was burning in the grate. (火在壁爐中燃燒著。)

　　Fish were surfacing to catch insects. (魚浮到水面上捕捉昆蟲。)

　　(二)基本結(jié)構(gòu)

　　過去進行時的句子結(jié)構(gòu)一般為：

　　主語+was/were+現(xiàn)在分詞(doing)+其他成分

　　如：

　　The wind was whispering in the trees. (一陣風(fēng)穿過樹林沙沙作響。)

　　The boys were itching for the lesson to end. (那些男孩子們渴望下課。)

　　(三)主要用法

　　1、表示在過去某個時刻發(fā)生的事情。該時刻可以用介詞短語、副詞或從句來表示。如：

　　The children were playing in the sand pit at four o'clock yesterday afternoon. (昨天下午四點孩子們正在沙坑中玩耍。)

　　I was reading a magazine when the phone rang. (電話鈴響時我正在看一本雜志。)2、表示在過去某個時間段發(fā)生的事情。此時往往會有較為明確的過去時間段的時間狀語。如：

　　She was reading in the library the whole afternoon last Saturday. (上周六她整個下午都在圖書館看書。)

　　They were playing football on the playground this morning. (今天上午他們一直在操場上踢足球。)3、 在復(fù)合句中，如果主要動作和背景動作都是延續(xù)的或同時發(fā)生的，那么主從句的動詞都可用過去進行時。但是，如果背景動作是短暫性動作，而主要動作是延續(xù)性動作的話，則背景動作用一般過去時，而主要動作用過去進行時。前者復(fù)合句中的從句較為典型的連接詞是when，后者較為典型的連接詞是while。如：

　　I was paging through a magazine when he came in. (他進來時我在翻閱一本雜志。)

　　Yesterday afternoon, while Jack was working in the garden, she was making a cake in the ktichen. (昨天下午，當(dāng)杰克在花園里干活時，Mary在廚房做蛋糕。)

　　(四)特殊用法

　　1、不能用于進行時的動詞

　　agree, be, believe, belong, care, forget, hate, have(擁有)，hear, know, like, love, mean, mind, notice, own, remember, seem, suppose, understand, want, wish等。如：

　　錯誤：I was hearing that they would get married soon. (聽說他們要結(jié)婚了。)

　　正確：I heard that they would get married soon.2、表過去即將發(fā)生的事情

　　此時的謂語動詞一般都是come、go、leave、start、arrive等表示位置轉(zhuǎn)移的動詞。如：

　　She told the manager she was leaving next month. (她告訴經(jīng)理，她下個月就要走了。)3、表過去習(xí)慣或愛好

　　與always、constantly等頻度副詞連用，表示感情色彩，往往暗示某種習(xí)慣或愛好。如：

　　She was always talking a lot before she got married. (她在婚前總喜歡說個不停。)4、when、while和as的區(qū)別

　　請參考這篇文章：英語時間狀語從句的用法大全

　　(五)標(biāo)志性詞語

　　過去進行時常見的標(biāo)志性時間狀語主要有：this morning、the whole morning、all day、yesterday、from nine to ten last evening、when、while、at that time等。如：

　　She was drinking all day by the dower. (她用從亡夫處得來的產(chǎn)業(yè)整天喝酒。)

　　We were standing on the right at that time. (我們當(dāng)時站在右邊。)

　　(六)句型轉(zhuǎn)換

　　因為“was/were doing”中的was/were是助動詞，所以在進行句型轉(zhuǎn)換中要注意不需要再另外借助助動詞do/did/does，而是直接借用was/were。如：

　　肯定句：I was trying to work out a solution to the problem at this time yesterday.

　　否定句：I wasn't trying to work out a solution to the problem at this time yesterday.

　　一般疑問句：Were you trying to work out a solution to the problem at this time yesterday?

　　特殊疑問句：What were you trying to work out at this time yesterday. (劃線部分為a solution to the problem)