SIMPLE PAST TENSE VS PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE

Simple past tense and past continuous tense are used to express events or activities happened in the past.

1. Simple Past Tense
Function : It's used to talk about activities or situations that began and ended at particular time at the past.
The following are adverbs of time that are usually used in simple past tense :

• Yesterday
• Last (night)
• in 2008
• three days (ago)

a. Nominal
(+) S + to be (was/were) + O
(-) S + to be (was/were) not + O
(?) To be (was/were) + S + O + ?
Example :
(+) Mrs.Jenny was a teacher
(-) Mrs.Jenny wasn't a teacher
(?) Was Mrs.Jenny a teacher ?

b. Verbal
(+) S + V2 + ...
(-) S + did not + V1 + ...
(?) Did + S + V1 + ?
Example :
(+) I caught a cat at the park two days ago.
(-)  I didn't catch a cat at the park two days ago.
(?) Did you catch a cat at the park two days ago ?

2. Past Continuous Tense
Function : It expresses an activity that was in progress at a point of time in the past or at the time of another action.
The following are adverbs used :

• When
• While
• As

Example :
(+) They were playing football. ( S + was/were + Ving + ... )
(-) They weren't playing football. ( S + was/were not + Ving + ... )
(?) Were they playing football ? ( Was/were + S + Ving + ... )

- Subjects : I, She, He, It (was)
- Subjects : You, They, We (were)