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Past Continuous
Quick example:

* What were you doing then?
* I was eating the dinner when someone knocked at the door.
* When he was sleeping, I was working hard
* I was wondering if you could help me.

We usually use The Past Continuous (Progressive) to talk about longer actions in progress in the past. The actions can be interruped by something ("He was reading when she arrived") or can be happening at the same some ("She was learning English when he was watching TV"). There are also two other uses.
Use

1. Actions in progress (in the past)
2. Interrupted actions in progress (in the past)
3. Actions in progress at the same time (in the past).
4. Irritation over something or somebody (in the past)
5. Timid / polite question

USE 1: Actions in progress We use the Past Continuous to express the idea that an action was in progress in the past.

Examples:

* I was watching TV yesterday in the evening.
* She was not crying.

USE 2: Interrupted actions in progress The Past Continuous is often used when one actions in progress is interruped by another action in the past. We usually use "when" to link these two actions. Sentences usually have this form:

[ Sentence in Past Continuous ] + WHEN + [Sentence in Past Simple ]

WHEN + [ Sentence in Past Continuous ] + [Sentence in Past Simple ]

or:

[ Sentence in Past Simple ] + WHEN + [ Sentence in Past Continuous ]

Examples:

* I was talking with James when the telephone rang.
* The plane crashed when Angelica was playing tennis.