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Welcome to Speak English® online video lessons. My name's Cari. I'll be your teacher today and the topic we're looking at today is past simple versus past continuous.
So let's look at the grammar first. Of course, past simple is just subject plus verb 2 plus object whereas past continuous we use subject plus was/were verb -ing plus object.
So normally, we use these two together, but first let's look at some different tenses on a timeline.
For example, this is now and this is when you were born.
Let's say, 2007 you were married. Which tense is this?
Which tense does this represent?
Of course, it represents past simple.
Let's look at a different timeline.
Maybe now, maybe born and it's tomorrow is an event, maybe tomorrow is married.
Which tense does this represent? It represents future tense.
Maybe our sentence is, tomorrow I'm going to get married.
So future tense will look like this on a timeline.
Now, born, which tense is this where we don't tell the person when it happened?
This one can be present perfect.
For example, a sentence, I have learned English. OK, but when?
We didn't say with this tense, present perfect. Let's look at one more.
Now,let's say 2011 and the example is working at Speak English.
Which tense is this? This one will represent present perfect continuous.
I have been working at Speak English since 2011.
So represented on our timeline, present perfect continuous tense will look like this.
Finally, let's see what past continuous looks like on a timeline.
So normally, we would use past continuous and past simple together.
So,we'll use past continuous, which will look like this and then we use past simple to represent, for example, here.
So maybe our sentence is, riding a bike, or riding a bicycle, and our past simple action is fell.
So how can I make this sentence?
First, I have to choose, do I want to use when or while?
So what do these two mean?
Normally, we would use when for a fast action and we would use while for a long action.
So riding a bike, would that be a fast action or a long action?
Do you ride the bike, finish, stop?
Or do you ride the bike for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, one hour?
So riding a bike, normally, would be a long action and we'd use the time expression while.
So we use long actions for which tense?
Past simple or past continuous?
With a long action, we'd use past continuous.
With a fast action we would use past simple.
So let's look at this sentence now.
When or while for riding a bike?
Long action so we use while and we use past continuous tense.
While subject was/were, let's say I, was verb -ing riding a bike, comma, then for our fast action, fell, we use past simple and you can use when, when I fell.
Yeah, so past simple sentence subject verb 2, no object here.
So I have to choose, do I want to use while or when?
I cannot use both but it doesn't matter, I can choose while and erase here.
While I was riding a bike, comma, I fell.
Or, I can erase while, I was riding a bike when I fell.
It doesn't matter, you choose. I'll leave it like this. So let's look at another example.
So to review, when, we use it for fast actions. While, we use for a long action.
When, fast action, which tense? Past simple or past continuous?
We'll use past simple.
And while, the long action, will be past continuous. So let's look at another timeline and write a sentence.
For example, let's do work and then we'll do fired which means they said you don't work here anymore, sorry, goodbye.
So let's use the long action, while.
While I was working at, we'll say, Speak English, comma, yes that's a fast action, you come to work, you make a mistake, they say bye-bye see you.
So, we'll use past simple.
I was fired. And again, I can use when.
So I can erase while. I was working at Speak English when I was fired. Or while I was working at Speak English, I was fired.
No problem. It doesn't matter.
So what happens if I have two things happening at the same time? I can use travelling,and maybe I can use painting.
So maybe I'm travelling all over Europe and in every city I want to make a painting.
So, I do this for a long time. I'm travelling for a long time and I'm painting for a long time.
I can use when? No. Because they're not fast actions. I can only use while.
They're long actions and only past continuous.
While I was travelling, while I was painting.
So I can use while here or here but I choose one so maybe I'll take this. While I was travelling, comma, I was painting.
Let's do just a couple more examples of some problems that you might have.
Maybe I'm not using a verb. Maybe I'm using an adjective like pregnant, for example.
Ah, pregnant is not a verb, it's an adjective.
But it is a long time.
And let's say we'll use while for the long time, but again there's no verb. The verb is am, is, are and it's not an action verb.
So, for continuous tenses I can only use action verbs, so that's a problem. What I can do is just make a past simple sentence.
While I was pregnant, and again, I cannot say while I being pregnant, now you cannot do that, so while I was pregnant, then what can we say? How about another long action?
Maybe, eating a lot.
So while I was pregnant I, and it was a long action, 9 months, every day, I was eating a lot of ice cream, for example.
All right, so let's look at one more concept before we finish.
This concept of when and while.
When we're using it with past simple and past continuous sentences, we are using it to tell people if it was a fast action or a long action.
But maybe, we're using it for a different concept.
Maybe we are telling a story or a memory.
Everybody starts with, one day, I blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
But let's tell the person more than one day. When is one day? Was it ten years ago? Was it yesterday? Was it one year ago? Let's do something a little different.
Maybe you can say, when I was a child.
So, is it a fast action? Being a child?
Not really. We are a child for about 16, 17, 18 years, so this is a long action, but we're using when. This is not a problem. Let's say that I use when.
When I lived in Alaska. Oh, there are commas here.
Maybe it was only 6 months, maybe it was 6 years. I can change it to when or while.
When I was living in Alaska. Or while I lived in Alaska.
It's not a problem because it's all about what you're thinking.
Was it a long time in Alaska? OK, use while. Was it a small time in Alaska? Use when.
So this is your opinion and that's not important. So we can use when or while.
Typically with I was a child, everybody uses when.
People don't normally say while.
Let's do a few more examples.
We can do when or while I was in university,so again, you can begin telling a story or telling a memory,
you don't need to use one day, we can use when I was a child or while I lived in Alaska or while I was in university.
If you want, you can do past continuous.
While I was studying in university. Again you can play with this, you can do anything you want to here.
So, finally, I'll tell you a little story and give you some examples from the story.
I'll begin my story with when I lived in Alaska, so this is a true story. When I lived in Alaska with my husband, we were working on boats.
So I used past continuous in this sentence because it was a long time, everyday.
We were working on boats very late.
So one night, we got home very late and we were very hungry. We had not eaten dinner, so we went to Macdonald's.
We went and got some fast food.
And we took this fast food "paket", so we were going home with our Macdonald's.
We were walking home with our Macdonald's bags.
So, our house was on a hill and we were at the bottom of the hill and our house was at the top of the hill.
So, while we were walking up the hill, up the hill, while we were walking up the hill, suddenly, a lady in a SUV stopped beside us and she said, "Don't go up there!
There's a bear! There's a bear at the top of the hill." And I said "But our house is at the top of the hill."
So she said "Don't go up there, there's a bear." And she drove away.
So, I was very shocked, I was surprised and we were holding Macdonald's bags and I thought maybe bears like Macdonald's,
but my husband and I decided that we should continue walking up the hill to our house.
So again, we continued.
While we were walking up the hill, suddenly, the bear runs directly in front of us, but thankfully, the bear passed us, but it got very, very close to us and it did not eat our Macdonald's.
So, the story ends very happily. We got home, we ate our Macdonald's and the bear was around our house for about two weeks.
But in Alaska, that's normal. So again, thank you very much for listening. I hope that this helps you understand past simple and past continuous.
So thank you again for watching the Speak English® video series lessons.