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form, as well as other modal forms.Thus, just as there are four present tenses in English, there are also four past tenses:the Simple Past, the Past Continuous, the Past Perfect, and the Past PerfectContinuous.As will be shown below, the three forms of each type of tense are closely related interms of their use and formation. For instance, the Present Conti nuous, PastContinuous, and Future Continuous tenses are all used to express continuous, ongoingactions; and are all formed from the verb to be followed by the present participle. Thedifferences are that the Present Continuous is formed with the Simple Present of theverb to be, and is used mainly to express present actions; the Past Continuous is formedwith the Simple Past of the verb to be, and is used to express past actions; and theFuture Continuous is formed with the Simple Future of the verb to be, and is used toexpress future actions.The uses of the Simple, Continuous, Perfect, and Perfect Continuous tenses aresummarized in the followi ng table.The Uses of the English TensesType of TenseSimpleContinuousPerfectType of Action Expressed· actions occurring at regular intervals· general truths, or situations existing for a period of time· non· continuous actions· continuous, ongoing actions· non· continuous actions completed before a certain timePerfect Continuous · continuous, ongoing actions completed before a certai n time2. The past continuousa. UseThe Past Continuous tense is used to express continuous, ongoing actions which tookplace in the past. In the following examples, the verbs in the Past Continuous tense areunderlined.e.g. He was traveling in Europe last summer.They were playi ng tennis yesterday afternoon.The Past Continuous tense is frequently used to refer to an ongoing action which wastaking place when something else occurred in the past.e.g. I was washing the dishes when the telephone rang.We were entertaining friends when the parcel arrived.In the first example, the use of the Past Continuous tense indicates that the action ofwashing the dishes was taking place at the time when the telephone rang. In the second