Past continuous

Yesterday Mark was studying. He started at 10 o'clock and finished at 8pm.
So at 4pm he was studying = he was in the middle of studying. He had not finished studying.



Was / Were - ing in the past continuous:

I / he / she / it      was             studying
we / you / they    were            reading
                                               watching
                                               eating               

examples:
I saw you walking in the street, yesterday around 2pm
What were you doing around 8pm yesterday evening?


Compare the past continuous and the past simple:
I was studying in my room, when the phone rang. (in the middle of the action)
I studied in my room, then i went to call on the balcony. (the action of studying was completed)

The past simple and the past continuous together are used to say that something happened in the middle of something else:
We were having a tea at 5 o'clock when my brother called me.
I was shopping in Tesco, when I saw Debbie.
It was snowing yesterday, when my granmother fell in the garden.

The spast simple can be used to say that one thing happened after another
She was having a coffee in a bar, when i saw her trough the window, so i stopped and we had a chat.

Some verbs (for example know and want) are not normally used in the past continuous
I was at the meeting, when my husband told me he wanted to go home.
(not he was wanting)