for completed actions or states in the past

to talk about an action that happened before another action in the past

Often, the action described by the past continuous...

describes a finished time and completed action

 gives the specific time when an event happened

describes two actions that happened at different times in the past

is interrupted by an action in the past simple

the background information in the past simple

the unfinished actions or states in the past simple

describes an action that happened before a particular time

is used for completed actions or states in the past

is used to talk about past and present experiences

is used to talk about an action that happened before another action in the past

is used to talk about an action that happened after another action in the past

is used to talk about an action that started in the past continued up until another action or time in the past

We use the past continuous...