
It just means that Jane tried to get his attention. This is a little less descriptive than the other sentence, but also probably more common. 'While John was talking to Sarah, Jane tried to get his attention'. Past continuous and past simple: Grammar test 2īoth can be correct! It depends on what you mean. In the second sentence, the guests arrived first and then Jane started cooking.ĭo this exercise to test your grammar again. We know that because it uses the past continuous. In the first one, Jane started cooking dinner before the guests arrived.

When the guests arrived, Jane cooked dinner. When the guests arrived, Jane was cooking dinner. We were watching television when the power went off.Ĭan you see a difference in the meaning of these two sentences? We often use these tenses to show an action interrupting another action.Īs I was going to work, I saw an old friend. While I was studying, I suddenly felt sleepy. 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. What were you doing this time last year? Past continuous and past simple I tried to give him some advice, but he wasn't listening. Three years ago, we were living in my home town. We make the past continuous with was or were and the - ing form of the verb.

The past continuous can also show that an activity was in progress for some time, not just for a moment. This means that I started studying before 8 p.m. The past continuous shows us that the action was already in progress at a certain time in the past. We make the question form with did and then the subject and infinitive verb.ĭid Sam play basketball when he was at university? Past continuous We make the negative with didn't and the infinitive verb. Sam played basketball when he was at university. wake → woke, break → broke, feel → felt). Irregular verbs have a different form, usually with a different vowel sound (e.g. Regular past simple verbs have - ed at the end (e.g. The past simple shows us that an action was in the past, not in the present. The past continuous and the past simple help us to show how two past actions or situations are connected. Past continuous and past simple: Grammar test 1 When I woke up this morning, it was snowing. Look at these examples to see how the past continuous and past simple are used.
