past continuous negative – English Grammar Profiler

In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 39 in the category of PAST is simply defined as:

past continuous NEGATIVE

TLC STUDENT SPEAKING TEST example:

(discussing saving money as a child)

I was saving. I was not eating chocolates.

I was just spending my money on my studies.

male India B1

An iWeb search:

_VBD _XX _VVG

1 WASN’T GOING 29202 2 WAS NOT GOING 16267 3 WERE NOT GOING 12242 4 WASN’T WORKING 8222

5 WASN’T EXPECTING 8109

I wasn’t expecting this.

listen

6 WEREN’T GOING 8090 7 WAS NOT WORKING 6612 8 WASN’T GETTING 5244 9 WASN’T LOOKING 4281 10 WERE NOT TALKING 3855

11 WASN’T TRYING 3732

12 WAS NOT EXPECTING 3708 13 WASN’T THINKING 2721 14 WASN’T FEELING 2602 15 WAS NOT GETTING 2512 16 WERE NOT WORKING 2413 17 WAS NOT WEARING 2326 18 WEREN’T GETTING 2320 19 WERE NOT GETTING 2231 20 WASN’T PAYING 2128 21 WAS NOT LOOKING 2118 22 WEREN’T EXPECTING 2115 23 WASN’T MAKING 1956 24 WEREN’T WORKING 1896 25 WASN’T USING 1884 26 WASN’T PLAYING 1884 27 WASN’T WEARING 1838 28 WERE NOT LOOKING 1783 29 WASN’T PLANNING 1758 30 WEREN’T LOOKING 1623 31 WASN’T TALKING 1573

32 WAS NOT TRYING 1537

33 WERE NOT USING 1485 34 WASN’T TAKING 1481

35 WERE NOT TRYING 1456

36 WASN’T COMING 1432 37 WERE NOT EXPECTING 1414 38 WAS NOT USING 1357 39 WAS NOT MAKING 1287 40 WERE NOT SAYING 1233 41 WAS NOT FEELING 1173 42 WAS NOT TAKING 1144

43 WASN’T HAPPENING 1114

44 WASN’T RUNNING 1052 45 WASN’T SAYING 1033

46 WERE N’T TRYING 1032

47 WEREN’T USING 1032 48 WERE NOT WEARING 1028 49 WEREN’T PAYING 1004 50 WERE NOT TAKING 999 51 WASN’T GON 998 gonna 52 WAS NOT RUNNING 975 53 WERE NOT MAKING 969 54 WEREN’T PLAYING 910 55 WAS NOT THINKING 895

56 WASN’T MOVING 882

57 WASN’T GIVING 859 58 WEREN’T MAKING 855 59 WASN’T KIDDING 843 60 WAS NOT COMING 815 61 WAS NOT PAYING 804 62 WASN’T EATING 757

63 WAS NOT MOVING 719

64 WASN’T HELPING 718 65 WASN’T SHOWING 713 66 WAS NOT TALKING 713 67 WAS NOT PLANNING 707 68 WAS NOT BREATHING 701 69 WAS NOT PLAYING 688 70 WASN’T SEEING 650 71 WAS NOT ACTING 650 72 WAS NOT GIVING 650 73 WERE NOT PAYING 633

74 WEREN’T TAKING 615

Please tell me you weren’t talking about business.

listen

75 WASN’T ASKING 608
76 WASN’T LYING 603 77 WEREN’T COMING 594 78 WASN’T BREATHING 584 79 WASN’T LISTENING 578

80 WERE NOT RECEIVING 575

81 WAS NOT SHOWING 573 82 WEREN’T TALKING 573 83 WEREN’T PLANNING 565 84 WEREN’T THINKING 557 85 WAS NOT RESPONDING 552 86 WAS NOT SAYING 540 87 WAS NOT REFERRING 527 88 WAS NOT SPEAKING 521 89 WAS NOT LIVING 514 90 WASN’T WATCHING 512 91 WASN’T BUYING 495 92 WEREN’T KIDDING 493 93 WASN’T REFERRING 486

94 WAS NOT HAPPENING 486

95 WAS NOT FUNCTIONING 482 96 WAS NOT HELPING 478 97 WERE NOT SEEING 474 98 WERE NOT GIVING 471

99 WERE NOT PLANNING 471

No, we were not planning anything and we only had one bomb.

listen

100 WAS NOT EATING 463

A2:

happening, lying, moving, receiving, trying

B1:
acting, breathing, expecting, planning

B2:

responding C2:

referring

EXPERT EXAMPLE:

One negative comment on the website was that the app was not working properly.

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