Past continuous and past simple

Exercises: 1 2 3

Exercise 3

Fill in the gaps with the correct past continuous and past simple forms of the verbs in brackets.

When I 1 (arrive) at the station, Raimond 2 (wait) for me. He 3 (wear) a nice black suit and he 4 (hold) a red rose in his right hand. When I 5 (get off) the train, he 6 (run) up to me and 7 (kiss) me passionately.

It 8 (rain) heavily so he 9 (take off) his jacket and 10 (put) it over my head. I 11 (tell) Raimond to go to a café so that we could talk, but he 12 (insist) on going to another place.

While he 13 (drive), I 14 (throw) a look at him. He 15 (smile) all the time, but he also 16 (look) nervous.

He finally 17 (stop) his car on the top of a hill with fantastic views. It was so wonderful. We 18 (get out) of the car, and he 19 (kneel) in front of me and 20 (take) a ring out of his pocket. “Kathy, will you...” he said. “Listen, Raimond, I want to break up with you,” I interrupted.

Exercises: 1 2 3

The past continuous – Form

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The past continuous – Use

Actions in progress

We use the past continuous to talk about actions that were in progress (not finished) at a specific moment in the past.

‘What were you doing at 9?’ ‘I was studying.’
When I saw them yesterday, they were arguing.

The specific moment in the past can be described by a time expression (at 9 a.m., at midday, at lunchtime, all morning, all day, etc.):

They were swimming at 7 in the morning.
At midday, they were still working.

Or by a simple past sentence:

They were swimming when I saw them.
When she arrived, they were still working.

Describing a scene

We often use the past continuous at the beginning of a story to describe the situation.

It was getting dark, and I was walking fast. Suddenly …

Past simple vs Past continuous

We use the past simple for completed actions in the past, and we use the past continuous for actions in progress (not finished) in the past.

We ate out yesterday. (the action is finished)
We were eating at 9. (the action was not finished)

The past continuous describes a longer action or situation, and the past simple describes a shorter action or event.

When I met Susan, she was having a drink at a terrace with a friend.
We didn’t go out because it was raining.

The short action in past simple often interrupts the longer action in past continuous.

He was playing football when he broke his arm.
When I went to bed, it was raining.

We use the past simple for completed actions that happened one after the other. Compare:

- When he arrived, she was having a shower. (The action of having a shower started before he arrived)

- When he arrived, she had a shower. (The action of having a shower started after he arrived)

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