(一)定義

　　過(guò)去進(jìn)行時(shí)表示在過(guò)去某一時(shí)刻或某一段時(shí)間內(nèi)正在發(fā)生或進(jìn)行的動(dòng)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(yú)浮到水面上捕捉昆蟲(chóng)。)

　　(二)基本結(jié)構(gòu)

　　過(guò)去進(jìn)行時(shí)的句子結(jié)構(gòu)一般為：

　　主語(yǔ)+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(guò)樹(shù)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(guò)去某個(gè)時(shí)刻發(fā)生的事情。該時(shí)刻可以用介詞短語(yǔ)、副詞或從句來(lái)表示。如：

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

　　I was reading a magazine when the phone rang. (電話(huà)鈴響時(shí)我正在看一本雜志。)2、表示在過(guò)去某個(gè)時(shí)間段發(fā)生的事情。此時(shí)往往會(huì)有較為明確的過(guò)去時(shí)間段的時(shí)間狀語(yǔ)。如：

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

　　They were playing football on the playground this morning. (今天上午他們一直在操場(chǎng)上踢足球。)3、 在復(fù)合句中，如果主要?jiǎng)幼骱捅尘皠?dòng)作都是延續(xù)的或同時(shí)發(fā)生的，那么主從句的動(dòng)詞都可用過(guò)去進(jìn)行時(shí)。但是，如果背景動(dòng)作是短暫性動(dòng)作，而主要?jiǎng)幼魇茄永m(xù)性動(dòng)作的話(huà)，則背景動(dòng)作用一般過(guò)去時(shí)，而主要?jiǎng)幼饔眠^(guò)去進(jìn)行時(shí)。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(jìn)來(lái)時(shí)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(shí)，Mary在廚房做蛋糕。)

　　(四)特殊用法

　　1、不能用于進(jìn)行時(shí)的動(dòng)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(cuò)誤：I was hearing that they would get married soon. (聽(tīng)說(shuō)他們要結(jié)婚了。)

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

　　此時(shí)的謂語(yǔ)動(dòng)詞一般都是come、go、leave、start、arrive等表示位置轉(zhuǎn)移的動(dòng)詞。如：

　　She told the manager she was leaving next month. (她告訴經(jīng)理，她下個(gè)月就要走了。)3、表過(guò)去習(xí)慣或愛(ài)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(ài)好。如：

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

　　請(qǐng)參考這篇文章：英語(yǔ)時(shí)間狀語(yǔ)從句的用法大全

　　(五)標(biāo)志性詞語(yǔ)

　　過(guò)去進(jìn)行時(shí)常見(jiàn)的標(biāo)志性時(shí)間狀語(yǔ)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(lái)的產(chǎn)業(yè)整天喝酒。)

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

　　(六)句型轉(zhuǎn)換

　　因?yàn)椤皐as/were doing”中的was/were是助動(dòng)詞，所以在進(jìn)行句型轉(zhuǎn)換中要注意不需要再另外借助助動(dòng)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(wèn)句：Were you trying to work out a solution to the problem at this time yesterday?

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