Past continuous use – Exercise 219

Drag each element from the list below to the right gap.

when his phone rang.

when we heard a kitten meowing.

when I heard a strange noise coming from the window.

when she saw a beautiful butterfly.

when I noticed a "no parking" sign.

I was reading in bed

We were walking along the street

The girl was watering the flowers

He was having a shower

I was parking my car

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Past continuous with past simple

The past continuous tense often goes together with the past simple. The past continuous shows longer background action and the past simple — shorter action:

I was doing something when something happened.

Examples

I was having a shower when you rang the doorbell. was having — longer background action, rang — short action

Helen was cooking dinner when the children came back. was cooking — longer background action, came back — short action

It wasn't raining when I woke up. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. wasn't raining, was shining, were singing — longer background action, woke up — short action