English – Past Simple vs Past Continuous: Narration in the Past – 3rd Year Literary Stream

Past Simple vs Past Continuous

Past Simple:

Form: Subject + V2 (regular: -ed) / irregular form
Uses:

• Completed actions in the past: “I visited Paris last year.”
• Sequence of events: “He opened the door, entered the room, and sat down.”
• Past habits: “When I was young, I played football every day.”

Past Continuous:

Form: Subject + was/were + V-ing
Uses:

• Actions in progress at a specific time: “I was studying at 8 pm yesterday.”
• Background description: “The sun was shining and the birds were singing.”
• Interrupted action (with when/as): “I was reading when he arrived.”
• Parallel actions (with while): “While I was cooking, he was watching TV.”

Exercice BAC 2020:

Put the verbs in brackets in the correct tense:
“While I (walk) home, I (see) an accident.”
→ was walking; saw
“They (play) football when it (start) to rain.”
→ were playing; started
“She (read) a book while he (listen) to music.”
→ was reading; was listening
“When the teacher (enter), the students (talk) loudly.”
→ entered; were talking

BAC Writing Tip:

When narrating a story, use Past Continuous to describe the background and Past Simple for the main actions.

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