Long thing, short thing
Read out the two scene sentences you wrote. Your partner’s job is to invent the event that interrupts them — out loud, immediately, however unlikely.
Then sort the eight below. Some of these take time; some happen in a second. That distinction is the whole lesson.
Eight actions. Match each to whether it fills time or happens in an instant.
Three joins, three meanings
Read these aloud. They are not the same sentence.
I was walking home when I saw her.
While I was walking home, I saw her.
When I saw her, I crossed the road.
While I was walking home, my sister was cooking dinner.
Four questions about the four sentences above. The differences are small and they all matter.
1. In sentences 1 and 2, which action started first?
2. Sentences 1 and 2 mean the same thing. What is different?
3. In sentence 3, both verbs are past simple. What does that tell you?
4. Sentence 4 has two continuous verbs. What is happening?
When, while, and the two tenses
The system
| Shape | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
continuous + when + simple | A scene, broken by an event | I was reading when the lights went out. |
While + continuous, simple | Same meaning, scene first, comma needed | While I was reading, the lights went out. |
When + simple, simple | Two events, one after the other | When the lights went out, I found a torch. |
While + continuous, continuous | Two scenes at once. Nothing interrupts | While I was reading, she was cooking. |
simple + while + continuous | Event first, scene after | The lights went out while I was reading. |
The rule underneath all five. The continuous is the long thing. The simple is the short thing. while almost always sits next to the long one; when almost always sits next to the short one.
If both are short, use when and two simples. If both are long, use while and two continuouses. The mixed case is the commonest, and it is the one stories are made of.
One to three words per gap. Decide which action is long before you write anything.
I the washing up when the doorbell . While she for the train, she a message from her brother. When he the message, he straight to the station.
The verbs that refuse the continuous. Back in Unit 6 you learned one test: could somebody interrupt you halfway through?
Nobody can interrupt you halfway through knowing something. So: I was knowing him from school → I knew him from school. Same for remember, want, mean, seem, believe, understand, own, belong.
These are the scene-setting verbs that stay simple, and they appear constantly in memories — which is why the error appears constantly in this unit.
Seven sentences. Some have the tenses reversed; some use the continuous on a verb that refuses it.
1. I walked home when I was seeing her.
2. While she was dropping the glass, everyone was looking up.
3. I was wanting to leave the whole evening.
4. When I was arriving, the party already finished.
5. He was believing every word of it.
6. While I waited, I was reading the whole newspaper.
7. She was owning that shop for twenty years.
Stress does work that grammar cannot. Say this four times, each time hitting a different word:
I didn’t take your bag. — somebody else did.
I didn’t take your bag. — I am denying it.
I didn’t take your bag. — I took a different one.
I didn’t take your bag. — I took something else of yours.
Four meanings, identical words. In a story this is how you point at the thing that matters without stopping to explain it.
Joins under pressure
One to three words per gap. Every join in this paragraph is one of the five shapes from the table.
It was a Tuesday and I on the last train home. Two men opposite me about nothing at all, loudly. I to read. Then the train between two stations and the lights out. Nobody said anything for about ten seconds. While we there in the dark, one of the two men started to sing.
Put the parts in order to make one sentence with a scene and an event.
Interrupt me
Task card · Speaking · Pairs · 3 minutes each
You give your partner a scene. They break it. Then you have to make the join work as one sentence.
Six joins each, alternating, in three minutes. Speed matters more than elegance.
- A says a scene: I was standing at the bus stop…
- B says an event: …a dog took your sandwich.
- A says the whole thing as one sentence, with the right two tenses.
- Then swap. Two of your six must use while and put the scene first.
One extra rule. Every third join has to include a state verb — I knew, I wanted, I did not recognise — and it has to stay simple.
The three that keep coming back
Four sentences from the joins. Fix each.
1. I stood at the bus stop when a dog was taking my sandwich.
2. While the phone was ringing, I was answering it.
3. I was not recognising the number.
4. While I was waiting my friend called me.
One question, every time
Three questions.
1. Which tense goes on the action that started first and was still going?
2. When the lights went out, I found a torch. Why are both verbs simple?
3. Which of these cannot take the continuous?
Before next lesson. Write your Lesson 1 story as five sentences only. At least two of them must contain a join.
Next lesson we work on the words in it — including six that mean something quite different from what they look like.