Vocabulary: idioms (taking risks)

PAST SIMPLE VS PAST CONTINUOUS


EX.19 Сhoose the best verb form to complete the sentences.

1 Jack was looking for a job when he was winning / won the lottery.

2 I was crossing / crossed the road, went into the shop and bought a lottery ticket.
3 I was watching / watched a game of tennis when my boyfriend phoned and told me I'd won £25,000.
4 I was buying / bought my lottery ticket on Saturday and as usual I didn't win a thing.
5 The gambling industry was making / made over £42 billion last year.
6 I was listening / listened to the radio when my winning numbers came up.
7 My sister was living / lived on nothing when she won £1,000,000.
8 I was reading / read the newspaper when I saw an article about an old school friend of mine who had won £12 million.


EX.20 Underline the correct form

a While he took / was taking a bath, Archimedes discovered / was discovering the principles of density and buoyancy.

b When Edouard Benedictus, a French scientist, worked / was working in his laboratory, he dropped / was dropping a glass bottle which had some plastic inside - and invented / was inventing safety glass.
c Columbus arrived / was arriving in America while he tried / was trying to reach the Far East.
d Alexander Fleming discovered / was discovering penicillin by accident while he looked / was looking at some old experiments.
e While Hiram Bingham climbed / was climbing in the mountains of Peru in 1911, he discovered / was discovering the lost city of Macchu Picchu.
f While Isaac Newton sat / was sitting under an apple tree, an apple fell / was falling on his head, and he understood / was understanding gravity.
g While Dr Harry Coover tried/ was trying to invent a new kind of plastic, he made/ was making a very soft substance which stuck / was sticking things together. It was Superglue.
h While he observed / was observing the Moon through his telescope, Galileo realized / was realizing that it had mountains and craters.