To determine whether to use the Past Simple or the Past Continuous tense in each sentence, it's important to understand the context and the typical usage of these tenses:
While he was walking his dog, he met his old friend.
- "Was walking" is in the Past Continuous tense because it describes an ongoing action in the past that was interrupted by another action. "Met" is in the Past Simple tense because it is the action that interrupted the ongoing activity.
Yesterday I got up at 6 o’clock a.m.
- "Got up" is in the Past Simple tense. This tense is used for actions that were completed at a specific time in the past. The action of getting up is a single, completed action.
We were watching the film when somebody knocked on the door.
- "Were watching" is in the Past Continuous tense because it describes an action that was ongoing when another action occurred. "Knocked" is in the Past Simple tense because it is the action that interrupted the ongoing activity.
We were watching TV while our mum was baking a cake.
- Both "were watching" and "was baking" are in the Past Continuous tense because they describe two actions that were happening simultaneously in the past.
He was writing the test at 3 pm yesterday.
- "Was writing" is in the Past Continuous tense because it describes an action that was ongoing at a specific point in time in the past.
In summary, the Past Simple tense is used for completed actions at specific points in time, while the Past Continuous tense is used for actions that were ongoing in the past or for actions that were interrupted by another past action.