PART 01: PRESENT AND PAST…
1.2 Past Progressive and Simple Past Tense…
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Use the past progressive (also called the past continuous) to describe an action that was in progress at a specific time in the past. The action began before the specific time and may or may not continue after the specific time.
example: My wife and I were living on Tenth Street in 1990.
Use the simple past tense to describe an action or state that was completed at a specific time in the past.
example: My wife and I had our first child in June.
Remember! Non-action verbs are not usually used in the progressive.
example: I had a headache last night. NOT I was having a headache last night.
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Use the past progressive with the simple past tense to talk about an action that was interrupted by another action. Use the simple past tense for the interrupting action.
example:
I was eating lunch when the phone rang.
OR
While I was eating lunch the phone rang.
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You can use the past progressive with while (or when) to talk about two actions in progress at the same time in the past. Use the past progressive in both clauses.
example: While she was eating lunch, her classmates were playing.
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Be careful! Sentences with two clauses in the simple past tense have a very different meaning from sentences with one clause in the simple past tense and one clause in the past progressive.
example:
When he came home, I was reading the baby-name book. (First I was reading the book; then he came home.)
When he came home, I read the baby-name book. (First he came home; then I read the book.)
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Use was or were going to to talk about future plans or expectations that you had in the past. (This structure is also known as future in the past.)
example: It was 1980. I was going to have a baby.
Notice that we often use was or were going to when the things we expected to happen did not happen.
example: We were going to name the baby Tom, but when it turned out to be a girl we named her Teresa instead.
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fin for 1.2… and to be continued for 1.3…
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Based on the book Focus on Grammar: A High-Intermediate Course for Reference and Practice, by Marjorie Fuchs and Margaret Bonner. Copyright © 1995, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.
