PAST

CONTİNUOUS
AND
PAST SİMPLE
By Zeynep Rabia KAPLAN
 PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE
1-) Often, to describe the background in a story
written in the past tense.
e.g
 The sun was shining and the birds were singing as

2-) 3-) When you use the Past Continuous with two
actions in the same sentence, it expresses the idea
that both actions were happening at the same
time. The actions are parallel.
e.g
 While Ellen was reading, Tim was
watching television.
 I was studying while he was making dinner.
3-) to describe an unfinished action that was
interrupted by another event or action
e.g
 "I was having a beautiful dream when the
alarm clock rang.
In the Simple Past, a specific time is
used to show when an action began or
finished. In the Past Continuous, a specific
time only interrupts the action.
4-)The Past Continuous with words such as "always" or
"constantly" expresses the idea that something irritating
or shocking often happened in the past. The concept is
very similar to the expression “used to” but with
negative emotion.
e.g
 She was always coming to class late.
 He was constantly talking. He annoyed everyone

5-) When you talk about things in the past, "when" is most
often followed by the verb tense Simple Past, whereas
"while" is usually followed by Past Continuous. "While"
expresses the idea of "during that time.“
e.g 
 I was studying when she called.
 While I was studying, she called.
 SİMPLE PAST TENSE
1-) The simple past is used to talk about
a completed action in a time before now.
e.g
 My father died last year.
 He lived in Fiji in 1976.
 He was a sailor in the U.S.A army.

 Duration is not important. The time of the

action can be in the recent past or the distant
past.
THE MOST İMPORTANT DİFFERENCE OF
SİMPLE PAST AND PAST CONTİNUOUS
 In the Simple Past, a specific
time is used to show when an
action began or finished. In the
Past Continuous, a specific time
only interrupts the action.