Page 85 - New Grammar with a Smile 6
P. 85

•  Was she singing a song?
             •  Were they decorating the Christmas tree?
             •  Was she sleeping?


             Comparison: Simple Past Tense and Past Continuous Tense


                            Simple past tense                       Past continuous tense

                  •  describes an action that             •  describes an action that was in
                      happened in the past. For               progress at a particular point of
                      example,                                time in the past. For example,
                      •   I woke up early today.              •   At 8 p.m. last night, I was
                                                                studying Maths.

                  •  Time expressions used are:           •  Time expressions used are: at 6 last
                      yesterday, last Sunday, last            night, at 9 yesterday morning, at
                      Monday, last month, last                the moment. For example,
                      year, often. For example,               •   I was watching TV at 6 p.m.

                      •   My mother cooked a tasty              yesterday.
                        dinner yesterday.

             C.  Fill in the blanks with the simple past tense or the past continuous tense of the

                 verbs in the brackets.

                 1.  My brother                         (wait) for me at the airport when my plane
                                           (land).

                   My brother was waiting for me at the airport when my plane landed.

                 2.  Faisal                       (hurt) his finger while he

                    (hammer) a nail into the box.

                 3.  The power                         (go) off while I                       (watch)
                    the film.

                 4.  It                      (begin) to rain when we                          (play)

                    the finals.

                 5.  I                      (come) across many interesting pictures when

                    I                       (surf) the Internet.

                 6.  The boys                        (steal) mangoes when the watchman

                                           (see) them.
                 7.  It                      (begin) to rain when we                          (wait)

                    at the bus stop.                                                                       85
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