Past Continuous Tense + Simple Past Tense
We often use the past continuous tense with the simple past tense.
We use the past continuous tense to express a long action. And we use
the simple past tense to express a short action that happens in the
middle of the long action. We can join the two ideas with when or
while.
In the following example, we have two actions:
- long action (watching TV), expressed with past continuous
tense
- short action (telephoned), expressed with simple past
tense
| past |
present |
future |
| Long action. |
|
|
| I was
watching TV at 8pm. |
|
|
| You telephoned at 8pm. |
|
| Short action. |
|
|
We can join these two actions with when:
- I was watching TV when you telephoned.
(Notice that "when you telephoned" is also a way of defining the
time [8pm].)
We use:
- when + short action (simple past tense)
- while + long action (past continuous tense)
There are four basic combinations:
| |
I was walking past the car |
when |
it exploded. |
| When |
the car exploded |
|
I was walking past it. |
| |
The car exploded |
while |
I was walking past it. |
| While |
I was walking past the car |
|
it exploded. |
Notice that the long action and short action are
relative.
- "Watching TV" took a few hours. "Telephoned" took a few
seconds.
- "Walking past the car" took a few seconds. "Exploded" took a
few milliseconds.
Test yourself on
the past continuous tense >> |
