* Level 5

Unit 2
Simple past vs past
continuous
 * Past simple vs past continuous
* Past Continuous.
- Structure
(+) Subject+ was/were+ verb ING+ Complement
(-) Subject + wasn’t/weren’t+ verb ING + complement
(?) was/were + subject+ verb ING+ complement?

* Simple past
- Structure
(+) Subject+ verb in PAST + Complement
(-) Subject + didn’t + verb + complement
(?) DID + subject+ verb + complement?
 *USES
• We use the simple past to talk about:
Completed actions or finished actions
Habits and facts in the past

• Examples

I went to the cinema yesterday

I always visited my grandparents in the summer when I was a kid

I lived in CDMX when I studied high school

 *USES
• We use the past continuous to talk about:

Actions in progress in the past

Parallel actions in progress in the past

• Examples

I was watching TV yesterday at night

Last night at 7 pm I was having dinner

My brothers were watching TV while I was doing my homework

Were you checking the cellphone in class?

 * Simple past + past continuous
* The past continuous tense is also used to describe the background when we are
narrating a story.

It was a lovely morning. Matthew got out of bed and opened his bedroom window.
The sun was shining and some birds were chirping in the trees.

* The past continuous  and the past simple are often used together when we talk
about an action already in progress while a short action comes in the middle of it.

* Compare these two sentences:

* While I was living in Rome, I met my wife.

* (a long action and a short action)

* While I was laying the table, my husband was making dessert.

* (two long simultaneous actions)
 *Examples
I was talking on the phone when my sister arrived.

He was drinking beer when he suddenly felt sick.

She took a photo as we were getting out of the bus.

We were waiting for the bus when we saw a car accident.

Were you using the phone while you were driving?

Were they working when you arrived?

Did she see you while you were cheating in the exam?

We use words like WHEN, AS, WHILE to connect ideas.

When we have a sentence in past simple and another in past continuous we often
use when and while, but we have to take into consideration the following rules.

Rule
  Examples

When I took the photo, the kids were

playing.
When is followed by a sentence
When
in past simple.
The kids were playing when I took the
photo.
While  I was having dinner, my
father arrived.
While is followed by a sentence
in past continuous.
My father arrived while  I was
having dinner.
While
While I was watching TV my mother was
cooking.
While is also used when two actions
are happening simultaneously.
I was watching TV while my mother was
cooking.

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