Final answer:
To fill in the blanks using past simple or past continuous, consider if the action was completed or ongoing. Use 'was doing' if it was in progress, and 'rang' for quick, completed actions. Both tenses help place events in time and show if they were momentary or continuous.
Step-by-step explanation:
When choosing between the past simple and past continuous tenses, we need to consider whether the actions were completed events or ongoing at the time. Here's how you can fill in the blanks:
- a) Martha was doing the washing up when the phone rang.
- b) Tim was surfing while his friends were sunbathing.
- c) What was Shirley wearing yesterday morning? I'm not sure, but she was not wearing her red suit.
- d) The students were doing their homework when one of their friends called on.
- e) Kitty broke her leg while she was running to catch the bus.
- f) What were you doing at 2:00 this afternoon? Were you working?
The past simple is used for actions that happened at a specific time and were completed, while the past continuous is often used to describe an ongoing action that was happening at a certain time in the past, sometimes when another action occurred.