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Complete a student's highly dramatic email explaining to their professor why they missed the morning lecture.
I am so sorry I missed class! I _________________________ my bicycle to campus when a brave squirrel suddenly _________________________ into my basket. It _________________________ my essay and immediately ran up a tree!
Answers and Explanations:
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I was riding my bicycle...
The past progressive describes the ongoing background action (the bicycle ride) that gets interrupted.
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...when a brave squirrel suddenly jumped...
The past simple is used for the sudden, interrupting event.
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It grabbed my essay and immediately ran...
We use the past simple for a sequence of completed actions in a story ("grabbed" happened first, then it "ran"). Using the progressive here would sound like the squirrel was grabbing the essay in slow motion while running!