1 Past Progressive and Simple Past Someone Stole

1 Past Progressive and Simple Past Someone Stole His Briefcase! Focus on Grammar 3 Part I, Unit 4 By Ruth Luman, Gabriele Steiner, and BJ Wells Copyright © 2006. Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Reporting to the Police 1 It was about ten of in coffee, the I was having a cup morning, and I was the sitting in and I was watching people Maxi’s Café City Park. in thenear café. Whatwere did you doing? see?

Reporting to the Police 2 To left, therewas wasaanother ayoungwoman. He was To. Suddenly, mymy right, She there was young man. He drinking coffee and reading acream. newspaper. A big was eating huge dish of ice Shewith was snatched thea red briefcase and ran away it so red briefcase was standing nexthappening. to his feet. enjoying fast thatit. no one knew what was After the man stole the briefcase, we were all talking loudly. The owner of the briefcase was very upset!

Past Progressive Use the past progressive to describe an action that was in progress at a specific time in the past. I was having coffee. She was eating ice cream. 10 a. m. now past was having was eating future

Be Careful! Non-action verbs are not usually used in the progressive. Note the exception with have. I was I had having a headache. I was having coffee. She was having ice cream. Here the meaning of have is eat or drink

Past Progressive & Simple Past 1 Use past progressive with simple past to describe an action that was interrupted by another action. They were enjoying the morning when the thief stole the briefcase. stole past were enjoying now future

Past Progressive & Simple Past 2 Use past progressive for the action in progress. Use when and the simple past for the action that interrupts. The man was reading the newspaper when the thief snatched his briefcase. snatched past was reading now future

Past Progressive & Simple Past 3 Use past progressive to focus on the duration of an action. Use simple past to focus on the completion of an action. I was sitting in Maxi’s Café and watching people. the people there. The thief stole the briefcase and ran away. past now was sitting / was watching future

Practice 1 What were you and others doing? Answer the questions using the past progressive. Example: What were you doing when I called this morning? I was trying to wake up when you called 1. What were you doing when the phone rang last night? 2. What were your friends doing at 6 p. m. yesterday evening? 3. What were you doing last weekend? 4. What was the teacher doing when you first saw her/him today?

Past Progressive with While 1 Use past progressive with while to describe two actions in progress at the same time in the past. The man was reading the newspaper while the woman was eating her ice cream. now past was reading was eating future

Past Progressive with While 2 Use past progressive with while to describe two actions in progress at the same time in the past. While I was describing While theft, the the police the officer was writing officer everything down. everything past now was describing was writing future

Time Clauses The time clause (= the part with while or when) can come at the beginning or the end of the sentence. no co mm a They were having coffee when the thief snatched the briefcase. , When the thief snatched the briefcase they were having coffee. !! co a mm !

Be Careful! Sentences with both clauses in the simple past have a different meaning from sentences with one clause in the simple past and one in the past progressive. When the waiter came, came I looked at the menu. When the waiter came, I came was looking at the menu. came past came was looking looked now First the waiter came; then I looked at the First I was menu. looking at the menu; then the waiter came. future

Practice 2 Form sentences with while. Use the past progressive. Example: read / steal While the man was reading, reading the prisoner was stealing his wallet. 1. talk / drink 4. not look / burn 3. play / watch 5. talk / sit 2. shine / splash 4. While the woman was not looking, the toast was looking 5. was talking onfountain the phone, the man was 3. one manwas playing pool, the other man was 1. Whilethe thewoman women were talking, they were drinking tea. talking 2. sun shining, the was splashing. shining splashing burning sitting in the chair. watching

References Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education and its licensors. All rights reserved.