Look at these examples to see how the past continuous and past simple are used.
When I woke up this morning, it was snowing.
I was sleeping when you called me.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
- Grammar test 1
Read the explanation to learn more.
Grammar explanation
The past continuous and the past simple help us to show how two past actions or situations are connected.
Past simple
The past simple shows us that an action was in the past, not in the present. Regular past simple verbs have -ed at the end (e.g. called, played, arrived). Irregular verbs have a different form, usually with a different vowel sound (e.g. wake → woke, break → broke, feel → felt).
My parents called me yesterday.
I woke up early this morning.
Sam played basketball when he was at university.
We make the negative with didn't and the infinitive verb.
My parents didn't call me yesterday.
I didn't wake up early this morning.
We make the question form with did and then the subject and infinitive verb.
Did you wake up early this morning?
Did Sam play basketball when he was at university?
Past continuous
The past continuous shows us that the action was already in progress at a certain time in the past.
What were you doing at 8 p.m. last night? I was studying.
This means that I started studying before 8 p.m. and I continued after 8 p.m.
The past continuous can also show that an activity was in progress for some time, not just for a moment.
We were cleaning the house all morning.
We make the past continuous with was or were and the -ing form of the verb.
She couldn't come to the party. She was working.
Three years ago, we were living in my home town.
I tried to give him some advice, but he wasn't listening.
What were you doing this time last year?
Past continuous and past simple
When we use these two tenses together, it shows us that the past simple action happened in the middle of the past continuous action, while it was in progress.
While I was studying, I suddenly felt sleepy.
We often use these tenses to show an action interrupting another action.
I broke my leg when I was skiing.
As I was going to work, I saw an old friend.
We were watching television when the power went off.
Can you see a difference in the meaning of these two sentences?
When the guests arrived, Jane was cooking dinner.
When the guests arrived, Jane cooked dinner.
In the first one, Jane started cooking dinner before the guests arrived. We know that because it uses the past continuous. In the second sentence, the guests arrived first and then Jane started cooking.
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
- Grammar test 2
Hello Iv_2020,
Yes, you're right in thinking that the meaning is different. In fact, there are two more possible forms:
3) finished, cried
4) was finishing, was crying
Strictly speaking, all four of them are possible, but 1 would be unusual because it suggests that you cried for a brief time while you were finishing the book but had stopped crying when you finished.
The most common combination here is 3, which suggests that you finished the book and then started to cry (and cried for a little bit).
For the other set of sentences, again, different forms are possible and the best one depends on what you mean.
Hope this helps.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Nada,
Yes, that's perfectly fine. You can use the simple form after while and in some contexts it is more common.
It may be helpful to contrast two versions of your sentence:
This could suggest that the search happened during the dtime he was having fun. It's not entirely clear, and the context would be important.
Here, the enjoyment happens within the time of the search.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello dnna,
The verb 'be' is a stative verb and is very rarely used in the continuous, so the present simple is used here.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello fadi.kazan,
In most situations, 'was driving' would be the correct form here. The idea is that if we saw her behind the wheel, she was probably in the process of driving at that point, and so the continuous form is the appropriate one.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team