Past simple vs past continuous

Professor´s name: Nancy Sánchez

 Past Continuous
• We use the past continuous for an action
which was in progress in the past.

• Ex: He was walking in the street when it

started raining.
• The first action is a long action - it lasted for a
period of time. We therefore use the past
continuous.
• The second action is a short action that has
interrupted the first. So for this we need past
simple!
I was watching television when he arrived.
• Use:
1. After another or at the same time.
• New action or already in progress.
If you want to express that a new action happened
in the middle of another action, you need both
tenses: Simple Past the new action and Past
Progressive for the action already in progress.
• Only mentioning or emphasizing progress.
Do you just want to mention that an action took place
in the past (also used for short actions)? Or do you
want to put emphasis on the progress, e.g. that an
action was taking place at a certain time?