Day 5 on italki!

Hello,

I'm studying English grammar using a very good book, its title is "English Grammar in Use" by Raymond Murphy.

Today I have studied the "Past Continuous", so I will try to compose a little essay using phrases with this verb tense.

Last year I was being 28 years old. (You can't use the past continuous for age. You can, however, use it in sentences such as: This time last year I remember being a real grouch because I was working so hard / This time last year I was being really careless with money, but now I'm trying to be less profligate...)  

This time last year I was relaxing on a wonderful beach in Tuscany.

Yesterday when/while I was watching TV my girlfriend called me on the telephone.

Yesterday when/whilst I was working my friends went to the beach.

A few years ago, while I was at university/while I was a student, I spent the summer studying for one of my final exams. (You could also say: I spent the whole summer of 2010 studying for one of my final exams / I was studying for my final exams this time two years ago / I missed out on so much fun during the summer of 2008 because I was studying for my final exams...)

Ciao!
Cris

Well done Cris - keep up the good work!

Hello Cris, the Murphy Grammar book is an excellent tool for learning English grammar.

Here are my corrections;

Day 5 on italki!

Hello,
I'm studying English grammar using a very good book, its titled is "English Grammar in Use" by Raymond Murphy.

Today I have studied the "Past Continuous", so I will try to compose a little essay using phrases with this verbal form tense.

Last year I was being 28 years old. Not correct. To be 28 is a fixed age and not a continuous age.

In At this time last year, I was relaxing on a wonderful beach in Tuscany.
Yesterday, when I was watching TV, my girlfriend called me on the telephone.
Yesterday, when I was working, my friends went to the beach.
A few years ago, when I went was at university, in summer I was studying for one of my last exams in summer. [This sentence needs work. It would be more correct to say "In the summer of 2005, I was studying for one of my last exams" - not "a few years ago"]

Ciao!
Cris