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Past Continuous Tense in English Past continuous tense in English. The past continuous tense represents the action or actions that were occurring in the past. What is Past Continuous Tense? "The past continuous tense represents the action or actions that were occurring in the past." In the English language, Past Continuous tense is used when the action was ongoing till a certain time in the past. This tense is used to talk about an action at a particular time in the past. The action began before that moment but has not finished at that moment. We normally use the past continuous tense for: • action at a particular moment in the past, • action started before that moment but has not finished, • talking about time of action in the past.