Special trick to use past continuous and simple past tense in one sentence

Shree Ganeshay Namah

How to use simple past and past continuous tense correctly

Introduction

Using simple past and past continuous tense in one complex sentence is a very useful and important skill.

Past continuous tense is used to show the action going on for some time in the past and if any other action takes place in between the ongoing action then simple past tense is used.

Let’s see this usage in detail with examples.

Rule to use simple past and past continuous tense rightly.

Rule- When one incident was going on in the past, during it another incident took place, then the incident going on is given in past continuous tense and the incident that took place during it is given in simple past tense.

This is the rule to use simple past and past continuous tense correctly.

We will understand it in simple words with the help of the following examples.

Example 1) When I was reading a book, my friends called me.

Here we have two past incidents.

1)When I was reading a book.

2) My friends called me.

Here the incident going on is “when I was reading a book.”

Another incident that took place is “My friends called me.”

So we have used past continuous tense for the incident going on and simple past tense for the incident that happened during it.

Example 2)While they were playing together, their parents called them.

Here the incident going on is “While they were playing together.” And it is in the past continuous tense.

The incident that took place during it is “Their parents called them.” It is in the simple past tense.

Example 3) While it was raining heavily, the lightning flashed.

The incident going on “While it was raining heavily.” It is in the past continuous tense.

The incident that took place is “The lightning flashed.” It is in the simple past tense.

Conclusion

From the above discussion, we can conclude that when one incident was going on in the past, it is given in past continuous tense and the second incident that took place during it is given in simple past tense.

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