Past continuous vs past simple

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 1

Grammar, unit 5

11-04-2022

Plan for today:

- Remember? Past simple

- New: Past continuous

- Online exercises

Click on the verb in the past simple tense:

1. have walked
2. were walking
3. am walking
4. walked

Do you remember the rule for the past simple?

I .......... eating my sandwich when the bell rang.

1. Was
2. Were

They ........... drinking some water when the train arrived.

1. Was
2. Were

What do you think the rule for the past continuous might be?

1. Have/has + verb in past tense
2. Am/are/is + verb -ing
3. Was/were + verb -ing

Workbook:

Exercise 1 , 2 and 5 on page 62.

Past simple vs past continuous:

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.

Workbook:

Exercise 5, page 64.

Online exercises