Sometimes it’s not clear which tense you need to use to talk about events in the past. In most cases, you would use the past simple or past continuous.
The big difference between these tenses is that the past simple is used to talk about short, simple actions and habits in the past. The past continuous is used for long actions or when the action was going on at a particular moment in the past.
Past simple or past continuous exercise
This is an exercise in which you need to choose between the past simple and past continuous. Look at the context and make sure you know the difference between long and short actions.
You can find the exercise below:
Past Simple or Past Continuous Exercise 3
Complete these sentences by filling in the correct form of the verb in the past simple or past continuous.
1.
His car (to break) down after installing a new sound system.2.
(you, to find) what you (to look) for?3.
When I (to be) in Sweden, I (to eat) a lot of kanelbullar.4.
My website (to update) when the system (to crash). I hope I have a backup.5.
Why (to lie) all the time? He just (not, to like) telling the truth.6.
They (to keep) an eye on her the whole evening.7.
I (to eat) breakfast when our cat (to jump) on the table.8.
It (to pour) cats and dogs and we (not, can) keep up.9.
The big tree in our garden (to split) in half last week because of the storm.10.
What book (to read) when a bird (to hit) the window?