Page 428 - Practical English Usage 3ed - Michael Swan, Oxford

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As I was walking down the road, I saw Bill.
The phone rang while I was having dinner. Mozart died while he was composing the Requiem.
past progressive for 'bac::kground'events
As I was walIdng down the road
JsawBilL
not used for repeated actions
The past progressive is not the normal tense for talking about repeated or habitual past actions. The simple past is usually used with this meaning.
I rang the bell six times. (NOT .. WfJ3 ringing the bell six times.)
When J was a child we made our own amusements. (NOT ••• we were mdlcing
6ftr 61tffl dmtt8ernents.)
However, the past progressive is possible if the repeated actions form a 'background' for the main action.
At the time when it happened, I was travelling to New York a lot.
non-progressive verbs: She said she believed Some verbs are not used in progressive forms (see 471).
She said she believed Joe was dying. (NOT She 8did she Wd8 beliefJing . ..) used for shorter, temporary actions and situations
The past progressive, like other progressive forms (see 470), is used for temporary actions and situations. When we talk about longer, more permanent situations we use the simple past. Compare:
- It happened while I was living in Eastbourne last year. .
I lived ill London for ten years while I was a child.
- When I got home, water was running down the kitchen walls.
When they first discovered the river, they thought it ran into the Atlantic.
special uses
Because we often use the past progressive to talk about something that is a 'background', not the main 'news', we can make something seem less important by using this tense. Compare:
I had lunch with the President yesterday. (important piece of news)
I was having lunch with the President yesterday, and she said . .. (as if there
was nothing special for the speaker about lunching with the President) The past progressive is quite often used with verbs of saying: this gives more relative importance to the following verb - to what is said.
John was saying that he still can't find a job.
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