The simple past

-I played cards last Friday.

-We broke the law three years ago.
-We didn’t jump as high as the girl.

The past progressive

-I was playing cards ….
-We were calling your
-The girl wasn’t jumping
- Were they running?
Use of Simple Past:
- We use the simple past for finished actions in the past.
Examples:
-Yesterday, I went to the cinemas with my friends.
-What time did you arrive home?
-I didn’t pass my Math test last semester.

The simple past is normally followed by time expressions:

- Yesterday
- In 1990
- Last month, Last year, etc
Use of Past Progressive:
We use the past progressive for actions that were happening in the
past.
Examples:
I was walking in the garden when I found a golden coin.
Many people were running after the thief.

With the past progressive, we use specific time expressions:

- Last night at 6 pm, ..
- At midnight,..
- Yesterday at this time, ..
When do we use the past progressive?
1) To show that a past action was happening at a specific moment
and was interrupted by another action.

When the phone rang, she was writing a letter.

The dog was chasing the cat when his owner arrived.
While I was sleeping, someone stole my car.
As I was going to work, I saw an old friend.

Use the past continuous to indicate a longer action in the past. The
interruption is usually a shorter action in the simple past
2) To show that an action was in progress at an specific time in the past.
Last night at 6pm, I was having dinner.
Yesterday night, I was reading a book.

3) To show that two actions were happening at the same time

- I was studying while he was making dinner.

- Tom was not working and I was not working either last night.
- While Ellen was reading, Tim was watching television.

While and When

While is usually followed by the past progressive.
When is usually followed by the simple past.
Structure:
Subject + was / were + verb+ing
The students were having dinner with their teacher
Negation:
Subject + was / were + not + verb+ing
The students were not doing their task when the teacher arrived.
Yes/ No Question:
Was / Were + subject + verb+ing ?
Were you crying when I arrived? Yes, I was/No I was not
Information Question:
(WH) + Was / Were + subject + + verb+ing ?
What were you doing when I arrived?
I was reading a book