tailieunhanh - Oxford practice grammar with answers part 4

10 Past continuous or simple? A Introduction A reporter is interviewing Mike and Harriet. Reporter: Mike and Harriet, tell me what you saw. Harriet: Well, when we were driving home last night, we saw a strange object in the sky. Mike: As we were coming down the hill into town, it just suddenly appeared in front of us. We stopped the car and got out. Harriet: It was a very clear night. The stars were twinkling. Mike: It was a spaceship. It seemed quite big. It had some strange writing on the side. And a light was flashing on the top. Harriet:. | 10 Past continuous or simple A Introduction A reporter is interviewing Mike and Harriet. Reporter Mike and Harriet tell me what you saw. Harriet Well when we were driving home last night we saw a strange object in the sky. Mike As we were coming down the hill into town it just suddenly appeared in front of us. We stopped the car and got out. Harriet It was a very clear night. The stars were twinkling. Mike It was a spaceship. It seemed quite big. It had some strange writing on the side. And a light was flashing on the top. Harriet As we were watching it it suddenly flew away and disappeared. PAST CONTINUOUS We use the past continuous for an action that we were in the middle of. We were driving home. We were in the middle of our journey. A light was flashing. We do not normally use the past continuous for states. See Unit 7. MOT JZ2tZ crwir-whinmac c i minrr 1 V1 Ã. ttejpacejtt tprrwjjeefmjt g . MOT It iMnrr nxMlirt INkJl It was IIUHhc rUUlng . NOT I wasn t knowing. PAST SIMPLE We use the past simple for a complete action in the past. We drove home. We finished our journey. The spaceship flew away. We also use the past simple not normally the continuous for states. See Unit 7. The spaceship seemed quite big. It had writing on the side. I didn t know what it was. B It happened as I was driving We often use the past continuous and simple together when one shorter action comes in the middle of another longer one. As we were driving down the hill a strange object appeared in the sky. While Laura was sitting in the garden it suddenly began to rain. You drove right past me when I was waiting for the bus. The appearance of the strange object comes in the middle of the longer action the drive down the hill. Shorter action An object appeared. In the three sentences above the past continuous comes after as while or when As we were driving . . We can also use when before the past simple. We were driving down the hill when a strange object appeared in the sky. David was making