Preterite BE-ING

Description of a specific past situation.

• At dinner tonight Mama and Daddy were talking. She was asking when he'd be getting money from the producers.

Unaccomplished action serving as a frame for a verb of action in the preterite simple

• When I sat down the demon was glowing very bright and polishing the crocodile with its handkerchief.
• One of the boys was drowning, but I dived and saved him. (interruption)
• The chirp of his beeper startled him. He realized his heart was pounding.
• He went down to the living-room, where they were watching a quiz show on television.

Anaphoric comment — restating an action or a statement

• Mr Gardner remarked that he would have thought twice about accepting this job if he had known that he was joining a sinking ship. The speaker draws an equivalence between join a sinking ship and accept this job: accepting this job amounts to joining a sinking ship.
• 'Well, that's wonderful, Michael.' She was humouring me, I could tell.
• I told him that he was overreacting.

Past prospective value

The subject had made the decision / intended to carry out the action in the preterite BE-ING.

• He told Mark that he was driving home to Birmingham that night.
• 'Davis, dead? But he was coming back to the office next week.' (= he was supposed to come back)

Hypothesis (if, I wish, as if, in case)

• If I was working, I wouldn't have time for drawing and painting.
• I wish I was making a trip across country myself.
• As if they were referring to whatever caused them to use that word.
• 'We're underneath the sitting room, in case you were wondering.'
• As if he were suddenly burning up with a high fever.

With not — refusal following a request

• I thought no one was talking to me and the others thought I wasn't talking to them.

Appreciative modal value with always (or constantly, continually, ceaselessly, incessantly…)

The speaker expresses an emotional reaction to repeated past behaviour. This reaction is often negative, but sometimes positive. The speaker pretends the subject was always doing something, an exaggeration used to convey a certain negative or positive attitude towards the subject.

• Annoyance He was always losing his keys back then.
• Reproach My ex-roommate was constantly leaving dirty dishes in the sink.
• Complaint They were continually interrupting the teacher during the lesson.
• Admiration My late grandfather was always telling the most fascinating stories.
• Admiration She was incessantly working to support her family.