PAST SIMPLE WITH PAST CONTINUOUS

El Pasado simple se usa para describir una acción que se completó en el pasado:
I made dinner at 6 o´clock last night
El Pasado Continuo hace referencia a una acción que se estaba desarrollando en el pasado:
At eight o´clock yesterday evening I was having a shower
El pasado continuo y el pasado simple se usan en la misma frase para describir una acción que interrumpe a otra más larga en pleno desarrollo:
I was washing myhair when the phone rang/While I was washing my hair, the phone rang

EXERCISES

1. Complete the sentences. Use the past simple and the past continuous in each sentence:

a) The doorbell _____________(ring) while I _______________(have) breakfast
b) It _____________(dark) when I _______________(leave) my friend´s house
c) A thief _________________(steal) my bag while I _________________(take) a photo
d) Mark _______________(ride) to school when he _____________(fall) off his bike
e) It _____________(rain), so I _________________(get) the bus home

2. Circle the correct form of the verb
a) When the earthquake began, we slept/were sleeping
b) The storm hit/was hitting three cities in the south of the country
c) the water rose/was rising quickly, so I was running/ran back to the hotel
d) At nine o´clock last night it rained/was raining
e) We were standing/stood in the garden when the hurricane hit/was hitting
f) Cars crashed/were crashing, so we were stopping/stopped quickly
g) We saw/were seeing the avalanche while we skied/were skiing
h) I drove/was driving home when the blizzard was starting/started

3. Complete the text. Use the past simple or past continuous of the following verbs:

be-cry-erupt-hear-see-stand-start-talk-wait

Everyone ______________in the street. There ________dark clouds of gas above the volcano and everyone _______________ for something to happen. I _____________

to my neighbour when we ______________ the first explosion. We __________ bright orange lava running down the side of the volcano and for a second, everyone was quiet. Then suddenly they all ____________talking at the same time, and some people ________________. The volcano _______________ and it wasn´t safe.