Past Continuous vs Past Simple

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• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 1

Past Simple vs. Past Continuous

Past tense of the verb 'to be' and verb + ing

I was playing

You were playing

He was playing

We were playing

You were playing

They were playing

Past Continuous 

Past Simple AND Past Continuous 

I was walking yesterday.

I fell off my skateboard.

Past Continuous

Past Simple

Past continuous vs. past simple

Past continuous vs. past simple

Past Simple = Something that has already happened. 

Past Continuous = Something that is going on. 

Past continuous vs. past simple

 'when':

''When the phone rang, she was writing a letter.''

'' What were you doing when the earthquake started?''

 'while' 

''What were you doing while you were waiting?''

''I was studying while my father was making dinner.''

or until voor de Past Simple

voor de past continuous

Past continuous vs. past simple

''I was cooking dinner when my mother called.''

The activity that was going on is the past continuous.

The activity that 'happened after' is the past simple

Present simple: always / every / sometimes / often / regularly / ..

Present continuous: (right) now / at the moment / Listen! / Look!

Past simple: yesterday / last / ago / in 1492 / the other day / ...

You have to know this BY HEART

Past continuous vs. past simple

You use the past continuous in combination with the past simple to indicate that something happened (short action = past simple) while something was already going on 

(long action = past continuous).

 I was reading a book when the phone rang. 

I was washing my car when the accident happened. 

Tips voor de toets

1. Ken de woordjes goed! (blz. 74 en 75)

2. Herhaal de 'irregular verbs' (blz. 213-215)

3. Ken de regels van de grammatica (blz. 77)

4. Ken de stones goed,
     en zorg dat je deze kunt toepassen (blz. 76)

Homework

Very simple, study for the test from next week.