Played/were playing
Can you please explain the difference between these?
1- At night, while I was sleeping, they played loudly and disturbed us all.
2- At night, while I was sleeping, they were playing loudly and disturbed us all.
Top answer
The two sentences have essentially the same meaning: loud playing disturbed your sleep. The difference, if any, is that in 1, the loud playing started after you fell asleep. And in 2, they were already playing loudly before you fell asleep.
- The two sentences have essentially the same meaning: loud playing disturbed your sleep.
- The difference, if any, is that in 1, the loud playing started after you fell asleep.
- And in 2, they were already playing loudly before you fell asleep.
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The two sentences have essentially the same meaning: loud playing disturbed your sleep. The difference, if any, is that in 1, the loud playing started after you fell asleep. And in 2, they were already playing loudly before you fell asleep.
01 and 2 could be considered the same in meaning. The difference, if any, in sense would reside in the phrases, "they played loudly" and "they were playing loudly" - the rest of the sentence is the same in the two examples.
"They were playing loudly" implies loud playing over a continuous period, thus it could be interpreted as loud playing that was already going on before you fell
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