Ex. 2. Compare and analyze the usage of the Past Simple Tense and the Past Continuous Tense

Past Continuous Tense

Ex. 1. Compare and analyze the usage of Present Simple Tense and Present Continuous Tense.

Present Continuous Tense

The Present Continuous Tense is used:	Examples
For an action happening at the moment of speaking usually with time expressions: at this moment at the time, now, at present, just now	The younger children are sleeping now, but the elder children are not sleeping. They are watching TV. What aretheir parents doing?
For a temporary action	Jack is studying at Oxford University. Is his friend Bill studying there too? No, he is not studyingat Oxford. He is working for a company in London.
For a pre-arranged, planned and intended action	My father is leaving for Paris tonight. My mother is not going with him. Is she staying at home?

1. I usually watch TV in the evenings. I am watching TV now. 2. Are you looking for a key now? You always look very smart. 3. Why are you not wearing your new dress now? She usually wears fashionable clothes. 4. Today it is raining heavily outside. It rains heavily in autumn in this part of the country. 5. He walks very slowly as a rule but now he is walking fast. 6. I usually don’t rest after university, but today I’m very tired and I am having a rest. 7. I think I will be on holiday next month. I am going on holiday next month. 8. We live in Washington, though we are staying in London at the moment. 9. I play tennis every week. Where are the children? – They are playing tennis on the court now. 10. The foreign scientists are flying back to Europe tomorrow. Some passenger planes fly faster than sound.

The Past Continuous Tense is used:	Examples
For an action in progress at a definite moment in the past usually with time expressions at five o’clock yesterday,all day yesterday, the whole evening, all day long, when he came, while	1. What were you doing at one o’clock yesterday? – At one o’clock yesterday I was having lunch. 2. Were you waiting for a bus when I noticed you at the bus stop? – No, I wasn’t. I was just passing by it.
For a temporary action in the past	1. When Alex met Mary in Minsk last year, she was not having preparatory courses for University. 2. Was she already studying at BSU? Yes, she was studying at the faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics.

1. I dropped my bag when I was running for a bus. 2. I played computer games yesterday. I was playing computer games at 3 o’clock yesterday. I was playing computer games the whole evening yesterday. 3. When I came into the kitchen, mother was cooking. 4. Did you do your homework yesterday? – I was doing my homework from 6 till 9 o’clock yesterday. 5. She always looked very smart. When I met her in Rome, she was wearing a long beautiful dress. 6. Father came home at 5 o’clock yesterday. Then he was reading a newspaper while mother was watching TV.

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