1. 과거 진행형 또는 단순시제2

   1) 다음은 기자와 민수, 숙희의 인터뷰 내용이다. 시제에 관해서 파란색 어구를 고려해 봅시다.

    기자:           Min-su and suk-hee, tell me what you saw.
    Min-su:      Well, when we were driving home last night, we saw a strange object in the sky.
    Suk-hee:    As we were coming down the hill into town, it just suddenly appeared in front of us.
                       We stopped the car and got out.
    Min-su:      It was a very clear night. The stars were twinkling.
    Suk-hee:    It was a spaceship. It seemed quite big. It had some strange writing on the side.
                      And a light was flashing on the top.
    Min-su:      As we were watching it, it suddenly flew away and disappeared.

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과거진행형                                                          과거단순 시제

과거에 행위가 ~in the middle of 일 때,              어떤 행위가 과거에 끝난 것을 말할 때.

     We were driving home.                                   We drove home.
           (We were in the middle of our journey)           (We finished our journey.)
     A light was flashing.                                        The spaceship flew away.
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* 상태를 진술할 때는 보통 과거진행을 안쓴다.    * 상태를 나타낼 때는 과거단순 시제를 쓴다.
 (틀림) The spaceship was seeming...             (O) The spaceship seemed quite big.
            It was having writing.....                               It had writing on the side.
            I wasn't knowing....                                     It didn't know what it was.

2. It happened as I was driving

 짤은 시간 동안 진행되는 행위에 대해서는 과거진행과 과거 단순시제를 함께 사용한다.

   As we were driving down the hill, a strange object appeared in the sky.
   While Min-su was sitting in the garden, it suddenly began to rain.
   You drove right past me when I was waiting for the bus.

위 세 문장 중에서 as, while, when 다음에 과거진행형이 온다.
   
   (As we were driving...) We can also use when before the past simple.
       We were driving down the hill when a strange object appeared in the sky.
       Min-su was making lunch when the phone rang.

그렇지만, 한 행위 다음에 또 다른 행위는 과거 단순 시제를 쓴다.

      When we saw the spaceship, we stopped the car. (=We saw it and then we stopped.)

* 예를들어, 언덕위에서 운전하면서 내려오는 긴 행위 중에 낮선 물체의 출현을 진술 할 때.
   긴 행위:       We were driving down the hill.
   짧은 행위:    An object appeared.
 
3. The sun was shining
 
< 과거진행형>                                               <과거 단순 시제>
배경(background)을 기술할 때,                       한 소토리(story)에서 행위를 기술할 때.
   The sun was shining.                                  We arrived at the beach.
   The stars were twinkling.                             The aliens landed quietly.