1.4.3 Past simple and past continuous contrasted

We use the past simple for a situation or an action or a number of actions considered as complete; we use the past continuous for a situation or an action or a number of actions considered as incomplete at the moment in question, e.g.:

The school bell rang at 4.15. (El timbre de la escuela sonó a las 4.15.)

The children were still coming out of school at 4.30. (Los niños todavía salían de la escuela a las 4.30.)

Last Saturday it snowed all day. (El sábado pasado nevó todo el día.)

When I left work, it was snowing heavily. (Cuando hemos salido del trabajo, nevaba mucho.)

All these houses were built in the 1980's. (Todas estas casas se construyeron en los años ochenta.)

There were several strikes while the houses were being built. (Hubo varias huelgas mientras construían estas casas.)

	See also past simple, past continuous and for verbs that do not have continuous tenses, see stative verbs.