Difference Between Past Simple and Past Continuous

Today we are going to describe about the difference between Simple Past tense and Past continuous tense.

The simple past and past continuous tense are two tense commonly used to make general statements about the past. Although they are both past tenses their uses are quite different.

We use the Simple Past tense to talk about occasion, states or behaviour at definite times in the past. The Past Continuous tense emphasises the achievement or incident in improvement around a time in the past.

In other words The Simple Past tense is commonly used with past time like yesterday, last week, and last year etc. The Past continuous tense is mostly used to talk about past actions that were in development at a particular point of time in the past.

Simple Past Tense- Structure –

Declarative sentence-

Subject + second form of verb + +object

Negative sentence-

Subject+ did not +first form of verb +object

Interrogative sentence-

Did+ subject + first form of verb+ object

Uses of Simple past tense

1- To express action started and finished at a specific time in the past .

For example-

1- Yesterday My mother cooked very delicious food.

2- Last week we went to restaurant for dinner.

3- We won the last cricket match.

2- To express a duration of time in the past.

For example-

1- My cousin lived in hostel for two years.

2- She wrote a novel for one month.

3- The old lady spent many years in old house.

3- A series of actions is done in the past.

For example-

1- I did my homework, played a football.

2- We sang in the party and went to the home.

3- You did your homework and went to the sleep.

4- Past habit or states.

For example-

1- We often went to the club after work.

2- He really liked fast food and was very fat.

3- My brother did not use to play cricket when he was younger.

Past Continuous Tense - Structure –

Declarative sentence-

Subject + helping verb (is /am /are + main verb+ ing form +object

Negative sentence-

Subject+ helping verb (is /am /are +not +main verb +ing form +object

Interrogative sentence-

Helping verb (Is /am /are) + subject + main verb +ing + object

Uses of Past Continuous tense-

1- An action in the past which overlaps another action or a time. Means describe an unfinished job that was interrupted by another event .

For example

1-I was going to office when he came to my house.

2- My mother was going to sleep when she saw an old man stand near the door.

3- She was having dinner when the doorbell rang.

2- An action take place in past continuous for the background of a story .

For example-

1-The sun was shining, the cows were grassing in the field and the farmers were ploughing the field, some girls were sat down under the tree and eating mangoes.

2- My mother was cooking food; my father was reading a newspaper. And my brother was playing football.

3- Describe actions that were going on at the same time in the past .

For example-

1- He was washing his clothes while her sister was reading a book.

2- Sam was going to market while Tom was watching television.

3- Tina was singing a song while Rohan was dancing.

4- Talk about specific time in the past .

For example-

1- Last morning at 7am, I was going to college.

2- Last night, at this time, we were driving a car.

3- Last week, on Monday, my grandfather was coming to meet my father.

5- Habits that happen more in the past. We use constantly, frequently here. We use present continuous for habits, but the habit started and finished in the past. This thing doesn't happen now.

For example-

1-They were constantly preparing for exam.

2- The dog was barking frequently for strange.

3-We were playing regularly in the park.

Difference between Past tense and Past Continuous tense

Past tense	Past continuous tense
Event in the past that are now finished	Action in progress in the past
Situation in the past	Interrupted action in progress in the past
A series of action in the past	Action in progress at the same time in the past
Time words-when -ago -Last week/year/night -yesterday - In 2012	Time words- while -As -At that time -At 5.00 pm yesterday

Summary of the Differences of Past tense and Past continuous tense

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Source: https://www.englishgrammaruse.com/2022/03/difference-between-simple-past-tense.html

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