Question

Choose the correct words. 1. While I walked / was walking home from school, I saw an accident. 2. When I saw / was seeing the accident, I called the police. The police arrived / was arriving very quickly. 4. While they talked / were talking to the driver, an ambulance arrived. 5 While my sister tidied / was tidying her room, she found her homework, o.She was very hapoy when she found was finding her homework.

Answer 1

1. While I was walking home from school, I saw an accident.
2. When I saw the accident, I called the police.
3. The police arrived very quickly.
4. While they were talking to the driver, an ambulance arrived.
5. While my sister was tidying her room, she found her homework. She was very happy when she found her homework.

Answer 2

1. While I walked/was walking home from school, I saw an accident. 2. When I saw/was seeing the accident, I called the police. The police arrived/was arriving very quickly. 3. While they talked/were talking to the driver, an ambulance arrived. 4. While my sister tidied/was tidying her room, she found her homework. She was very happy when she found/was finding her homework.

In each sentence, there is a choice between two verb forms: the simple past tense (e.g., walked, saw, talked, tidied, found) and the past continuous tense (e.g., was walking, was seeing, were talking, was tidying, was finding). Both verb forms can be used to describe actions or events that happened in the past, but they have slightly different meanings and uses.

The simple past tense is used to describe completed actions or events in the past. It suggests that the action or event happened at a specific point in time and is now finished. For example, "I walked home from school" and "I saw an accident" indicate that these actions were completed in the past.

The past continuous tense is used to describe ongoing or continuous actions or events in the past. It suggests that the action or event was happening at a specific point in time in the past. For example, "While I was walking home from school" and "When I was seeing the accident" indicate that these actions were happening at a specific point in time in the past.

Let's analyze each sentence:

1. "While I walked/was walking home from school, I saw an accident." Both "walked" and "was walking" are grammatically correct, but they convey slightly different meanings. "While I walked" suggests that the action of walking was completed in the past, while "While I was walking" suggests that the action of walking was ongoing or continuous at a specific point in the past. Depending on the intended meaning, either form can be used.

2. "When I saw/was seeing the accident, I called the police. The police arrived/was arriving very quickly." Both "saw" and "was seeing" are grammatically correct, but again, they convey slightly different meanings. "When I saw" suggests that the action of seeing the accident was completed in the past, while "When I was seeing" suggests that the action of seeing the accident was ongoing or continuous at a specific point in the past. Depending on the intended meaning, either form can be used. Similarly, both "arrived" and "was arriving" are grammatically correct. "The police arrived" suggests that the arrival of the police was a completed action in the past, while "The police was arriving" suggests that the arrival of the police was ongoing or continuous at a specific point in the past.

3. "While they talked/were talking to the driver, an ambulance arrived." Both "talked" and "were talking" are grammatically correct, but they convey slightly different meanings. "While they talked" suggests that the action of talking to the driver was completed in the past, while "While they were talking" suggests that the action of talking to the driver was ongoing or continuous at a specific point in the past. Depending on the intended meaning, either form can be used.

4. "While my sister tidied/was tidying her room, she found her homework. She was very happy when she found/was finding her homework." Both "tidied" and "was tidying" are grammatically correct, but they convey slightly different meanings. "While my sister tidied" suggests that the action of tidying her room was completed in the past, while "While my sister was tidying" suggests that the action of tidying her room was ongoing or continuous at a specific point in the past. Depending on the intended meaning, either form can be used. Similarly, both "found" and "was finding" are grammatically correct. "She found her homework" suggests that the action of finding her homework was completed in the past, while "She was finding her homework" suggests that the action of finding her homework was ongoing or continuous at a specific point in the past.

In summary, both the simple past tense and the past continuous tense can be used in these sentences, but they convey slightly different meanings. The choice between the two verb forms depends on the intended meaning and emphasis of the sentence.