continued
v.v. to keep doing something or to stay in the same state without stopping. You use it when an action or situation does not end.
v. to persist in an activity or process; to maintain a particular state without interruption. Transitive when followed by an object or infinitive, but also functions intransitively.
The rain continued throughout the entire afternoon.
Despite the technical difficulties during the presentation, the speaker continued as if nothing had happened.
The legal team argued that the contract remained valid as long as both parties continued to fulfill their respective obligations under the original terms.
Can be followed by a gerund ('continued talking') or a to-infinitive ('continued to talk') with little change in meaning.
The meeting continued for three hours longThe meeting continued for three hoursThe verb 'continue' already implies duration; adding 'long' after the time period is redundant.