Past Simple and Past Continuous

Past Simple:

It shows us that an action took place in the past. Verb takes its second form ‘V2’

Examples:

* We went to the cinema yesterday.

* Neetu danced at the party last night.

* Kareem was born in Vijayawada.

The Past Simple is also used for the past habits.

Examples:

* He smoked a lot when he was young.

(or)

* He used to smoke a lot when he was young.

Past Continuous:

It shows some action that was happening at some point of time in the past.

I/He/she/it/singular -- was + verb +ing

We/they/we/you/plural – were + verb +ing

Examples:

* They were playing cricket all the evening yesterday.

* I was living in Guntur 10 years ago.

* Rakesh called you yesterday. But, you didn’t lift the phone. What were you doing?

Using Past Simple and Past Continuous in the same sentence:

If two actions took place at the same time in the past, the action that took longer time is expressed in Past Continuous and the shorter action must be in Past Simple.

Examples:

* Kiran was playing tennis when I saw him yesterday. (‘Playing’ took longer time than ‘seeing’)

* She met an old friend as She was going to market last Sunday.

* My son was sleeping when I reached home.

Practice Bits:

Fill in the following blanks with appropriate form of the verbs that are given in the brackets

1. They _________ (participate) in the Koushal Quiz Programme last year.

2. My mother ________ (preparing) dinner when she _______ (hear) the doorbell.

3. Yamini _________ (sleep) all the day last Sunday.

4. Maria _________ (play) a lot of tennis before her retirement in Feb 2020.

5. Poorvansh ________ (study) in the UK when the COVID-19 _______ (hit) that country.

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