Final answer:
The correct sentence is "I fell asleep when I was watching television," using past simple for the completed action and past continuous for the ongoing action. Verb tense consistency is key in conveying clear sequences of events in writing.
Step-by-step explanation:
Out of the sentences provided, the correct one that uses the past simple and past continuous tenses appropriately is "I fell asleep when I was watching television." This sentence demonstrates how to correctly express an action that was interrupted by another action in the past. Sentence (a) correctly uses past simple for the action that happened immediately (fell asleep), and past continuous to describe the ongoing action that was interrupted (was watching).
When constructing sentences that involve different times, it is crucial to choose the correct verb tenses to clearly communicate the sequence of events. The past simple tense indicates a completed action at a specific time in the past. In contrast, the past continuous tense is used to describe an action that was ongoing at a particular time in the past. Combining these two tenses allows writers to indicate an interruption of the ongoing past action with the past simple action.
It's important to maintain consistency in verb tense, especially within a single sentence, to avoid confusion. The same concept applies to narrative writing, where maintaining a consistent tense helps maintain a clear sequence of events and does not confuse the reader.