Past Simple Vs. Past Continuous

PAST SIMPLE Vs. PAST CONTINUOUS 

1.  The most common use of the past continuous tense is to talk about something that was happening around a particular time in the past.

• What were you doing at 8 o’clock last night? I was watching television.

I started watching television before 8 o’clock and I continued watching it after 8 o’clock.

• In 1994 he was working in a small town in Poland.
• At 6 o’clock on Saturday morning we were travelling to the airport.

2. We often use the past continuous and the past simple tense together. When this happens, the past continuousdescribes a longer, ‘background’ action or situation and the past simple describes the action or events.

• When I woke up this morning it was raining and my father was singing in the kitchen.
• I was walking home, whistling happily, when I saw two masked men run out of the bank.

Often, the ‘action’ described by the past simple tense interrupts the ‘situation’ described by the past continuous tense.

• I broke my leg when I was skiing.
• I was playing a computer game when the doorbell rang.

Notice that the past continuous describes ‘situations’ that go on for some time – ‘skiing’ and ‘playing’ but the past simple describes ‘actions’ that happen quickly – ‘broke’ and ‘rang’.

Notice too the important difference between these two sentences.

• When they arrived, Jeff was cooking dinner. Jeff started cooking before they arrived.
• When they arrived, Jeff cooked dinner. Jeff started cooking dinner after they arrived.

NOTICE :)

Certain Verbs

The following verbs are usually only used in Simple Past (not in the progressive form).

• state: be, cost, fit, mean, suit
  Example: We were on holiday.
• possession: belong, have
  Example: Sam had a cat.
• senses: feel, hear, see, smell, taste, touch
  Example: He felt the cold.
• feelings: hate, hope, like, love, prefer, regret, want, wish
  Example: Jane loved pizza.
• brain work: believe, know, think, understand
  Example: I did not understand him.
• introductory clauses for direct speech: answer, ask, reply, say
  Example: “I am watching TV,“ he said.

EXTRA PRACTICE !!

Hello guys :) Here you have some links you can click on to practice these two topics. Hope they are useful for you!

http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/past-simple-past-continuous-exercise-1.html
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs3.htm
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs4.htm
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/simple_past_progressive2.htm
http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=734
http://www.aulafacil.com/Ingejerc/Lecciones/Ejerc19.htm