simple past vs. past continuous

[hayley]

it's not simple at all, to start with.

first, simple past refers to the action,
while past continuous does to the statement or situation.

for example, look at this sentence, 

the phone rang while I was watching tv.

the action( the phone rang) happened in the state (I was watching tv)

so when you want to use past continuous, 
it has to be happening in the particular time. 
it is the moment at the particular time, 
or the moment that something happens.

what do you think is right? between...

-what did you do at 2 oclok last night?          and 
-what were you doing at 2 oclock last night? 

the particular time( 2 oclock, the moment) is given here and 
it has to mean what situation were you in at the moment. 
so the later one.

if you want to say what did you do, you have to omit 2 oclock.
at the particulat moment you cant ever start and finish an action.

consequently, past simple is used when you want to say when an 
action takes place, including starting and finishing generally.


so, what did you eat for lunch?
but what were you eating when I called you? 

'what did you eat' means the action.
'what were you doing' means the situation 'when the action (I called you) happened. 
	 					
	

[winwin]

thanxs for your comment...i am so happy to see your answer in here.....