Is it possible to say "He was being run after" instead of "He was being chased" the same way it is possible to say "He was being shot at" "He was being run down/over" etc. or is that not a valid construction?
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I don't know what parts are quotes and what parts aren't. Please place quotation marks around the sentences you want us to look at so we can better help you. – Jonathan Spirit Jan 31 '15 at 17:41
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All of those are valid constructions. What you're looking at is something called the passive voice, which is when the verb is being done to the subject. "He was chased." The verb, chased, is being done to the subject.
You might ask, in something like: "He was being shot at," where the object of the preposition is. Normally, the preposition has an obvious object, like: "I shot at him." However, in a sentence with passive voice, there is an object for the preposition: The subject is simultaneously the subject and the object of the preposition. In fact, you could say that the subject of a sentence with passive voice is also the object of the verb at the same time.
TL;DR: That's passive voice. The verb is being done to the subject. All of those are perfectly fine, even with the prepositions.
Jonathan Spirit
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1All true, but it doesn't alter the fact that idiomatically, was being run after is virtually non-existent by comparison with was being chased. And it's not that easy to come up with contexts where the continuous form would be appropriate for something so "instantaneous" as being run over. But I think this is essentially an ELL-level question. – FumbleFingers Jan 31 '15 at 18:40
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They are passives, of course, but more specifically, this type of construction is called a "prepositional passive". It has been extensively studied by Alice Davidson and others. Google "prepositional passive" to find many references. – Greg Lee Jan 31 '15 at 23:34
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