Past Continuous: Past Continuous Tense in English

Past Continuous shows an action in progress at a moment in the past, or the background for a shorter Past Simple action.

Form: was / were + verb + -ing.

• I was reading at 8 p.m.
• They were waiting for the bus.
• She wasn't sleeping.
• Were you working?

Two tenses together

• I was cooking when the phone rang. — cooking in progress; the phone — a short event
• While we were walking, it started to rain.

Do not use continuous with stative verbs: I knew the answer, not I was knowing.