1)Past actions

which happened
one after the
other.
2)Past habit or
state.

3)Complete
action or event
which happened
at a stated past
time.

4)Action which
happened at a
definite past
time although
the time is not
connected with
the present.

5)Action in the
middle of
happening at a
stated past time.

6) Past action in
progress
interrupted by
another past
action. The longer
action is in the
Past Continuous,
the shorter action
is in the Past
Simple.
7)Two or more
simultaneous
past actions.
 8)Background
description to
events in a story.

When the guests arrived, Jane was cooking dinner.

When the guests arrived, Jane cooked dinner.

In the first one, Jane started cooking dinner before the guests arrived. We know
that because it uses the past continuous. In the second sentence, the guests
arrived first and then Jane started cooking.

Time expressions used

 with:
yesterday, last week
etc, (how long ago),
then, just now, when,
in 1967 etc
while, when, as etc

 She sealed the

letter, put a stamp
on it and posted it.
 He used to
go/went to school
on foot.
 She called an
hour ago. (When?
An hour ago.)

 Shakespeare
wrote a lot of
plays.
(Shakespeare is
now dead; he
won’t write again.
– period of time
now finished)
 He was playing
tennis at 4.30
yesterday.
 While I was
getting dressed the
bell rang.
 While I was
sunbathing, Tim
was swimming.
 She was flying to
Paris.
 The sun was
shining….