Past Continuous / Progressive Tense: Penjelasan, Rumus, dan Soal Latihan

Definisi dan Fungsi

“The past continuous/progressive tense is used to write or talk about an action that started sometime before the present time, and the action may or may not be completed.” Umumnya past continuous/progressive tense digunakan untuk hal berikut.

• Menyatakan kejadian atau peristiwa yang sedang berlangsung di masa lalu tetapi tidak jelas apakah di masa sekarang masih berlangsung atau tidak.
• Menyatakan kejadian atau peristiwa yang sedang berlangsung yang dibarengi/diganggu dengan kejadian yang lain (biasanya kejadian yang mengganggu menggunakan past simple tense)

Ciri-Ciri

Kalimat dalam Past Continuous/Progressive Tense dapat dikenali dengan memperhatikan hal-hal sebagai berikut:

1. Rumusnya: Subject + to be (was/were) + Verb-ing (Continuous Form)
   
   • Was digunakan untuk I, he, she, it
   • Were digunakan untuk you, they, we
2. Umumnya menggunakan time adverb seperti when, while, as long as, at this time yesterday.

Rumus

Berikut adalah rumus untuk kalimat dalam bentuk positif, negatif, dan pertanyaan/interogatif.

• Kalimat Positif (+)
  she was washing my clothes when you came.
  (subject + was/were + verb-ing + complement)

• Kalimat Negatif (-)
  she was not washing my clothes when you came.
  (subject + was/were + not + verb-ing + complement)

• Kalimat Pertanyaan/Interogatif (?)
  Was she washing my clothes when you came?
  (was/were + subject + verb-ing + complement + ?)
  

 

Contoh Penggunaan

Menyatakan kejadian yang dibarengi/diganggu kejadian lain
Difa was walking in the park when it began to rain.
(Difa sedang berjalan di taman ketika mulai hujan.)
Last year at this time, you were standing there.
(Tahun lalu pada waktu saat ini, kamu sedang berdiri disana.)

Menyatakan lebih dari satu kejadian yang berlangsung bersamaan
My big brother was singing on the second floor while I was watching television in my room.
(Kakakku sedang menyanyi di lantai dua sedangkan aku sedang menonton televisi di kamarku.)
As long as I was playing football, she was standing under the tree.
(Selama aku sedang bermain sepakbola, dia berdiri di bawah pohon)

Untuk mendeskripsikan latar belakang cerita
"The sun was shining and the birds were singing as the lion came out of the jungle..."
"Matahari sedang bersinar dan burung-burung sedang bernyanyi ketika singa keluar dari hutan…"

Terkadang maknanya menyerupai simple past tense
It was raining this morning.
(Pagi ini hujan.)
VS
It rained this morning.
(Pagi ini hujan.)

Menyatakan perubahan (go, change, improve, grow, dan sebagainya)
Your drawing was improving rapidly.
(Kemampuan menggambarmu meningkat dengan cepat.)
The weather was changing yesterday.
(Cuacanya berubah kemarin.)

Soal Latihan

Answer the question with the right answer.

1. Where … your meeting clients at 9 o’clock yesterday?
2. A thief tried to steal Linda’s wallet while she … waiting in the city park.
3. My parents … swimming on the beach at 3 pm last month.
4. At 6 this morning we …having breakfast with mom.
5. Who … driving the car when it  crashed?
6. My sisters… playing on the beach all day last week.
7. … the students recording the video during class?
8. The telephone rang when our children … sleeping.
9. … she being kind to her neighbor?
10. He … studying when you came.

Find and correct a mistake into the correct form of past continuous/progressive tense!

1. She is not walking home at this time yesterday.
2. Where they sleeping when you came home?
3. Was he watches TV at 8 o'clock yesterday?
4. Are they making ice cream when Edie came?
5. Were you and Mr Nanda studied Science at 9 am yesterday?
6. Was they walking home?
7. They was not fixing the car.
8. He was reading a magazine at 6 o'clock yesterday when the newspaper arrives.
9. We were writing letters to German while Reni were shopped.
10. You and Nanda are singing a song at the party yesterday.

 

Answer:

1. were
2. was
3. were
4. were
5. was
6. were
7. were
8. were
9. was
10. was

1. She was not walking home at this time yesterday.
2. Were they sleeping when you came home?
3. Was he watching TV at 8 o'clock yesterday?
4. Were they making ice cream when Edie came?
5. Were you and Mr Nanda studying Science at 9 am yesterday?
6. Were they walking home?
7. They were not fixing the car.
8. He was reading a magazine at 6 o'clock yesterday when the newspaper arrived.
9. We were writing letters to German while Reni was shopping.
10. You and Nanda are singing a song at the party yesterday.

Penutup

Demikian penjelasan mengenai past continuous / progressive tense yang dapat saya sampaikan. Apabila ada masukan silahkan tinggalkan komentar agar artikel ini tidak menyesatkan publik. Terimakasih.

Referensi:
Past Tense: Definition, Rules and Examples of Past Tenses • 7ESL
Tips Menguasai 16 Tenses Bahasa Inggris | EF Blog