Narrative Tenses: Past Simple and Past Continuous

The Past Simple is used for actions that happened and finished in the past. It is often used with time expressions like "yesterday," "last week," or "in 2010." Examples: - I visited my grandmother last week. - She graduated from college in 2019. The Past Continuous is used for actions that were ongoing in the past, often to set the scene or describe background actions. It is used with time expressions like "while," "when," or "as." Examples: - I was reading a book when the phone rang. - They were playing soccer while it was raining. Conditions for using these tenses: 1. Use Past Simple for completed actions. 2. Use Past Continuous for actions in progress at a specific time in the past. 3. Use Past Continuous to show that one action was interrupted by another action (usually in Past Simple). 4. Use specific time expressions to clarify when the actions took place.