Complete the following sentence by selecting the most appropriate option:
Please tell me what you ______when I ______ you yesterday evening.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → were doing; called
Past continuous with simple past (an action interrupted):
- When a longer action was going on and a shorter action happened in the middle of it:
- the longer action takes the past continuous (was/were + -ing);
- the shorter action takes the simple past.
- Clue words: "when" and "yesterday evening". This sentence: the speaker called "yesterday evening" while the listener was busy with something, so "what you were doing when I called you".
Complete sentence: Please tell me what you were doing when I called you yesterday evening.
Example: The lights went out while we were having dinner.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: did; called — Incorrect. "What you did when I called" asks what the listener did after the call, in response to it, not what he was busy with at that moment.
Option 2: do; call — Incorrect. The present tense forms do not fit "yesterday evening".
Option 4: done; was calling — Incorrect.
- The past participle "done" cannot stand without a helping verb (have/had).
- It turns the roles round: the short action, the call, is put in the continuous form.
Contrast: the longer action in progress takes the past continuous (were doing); the shorter action that interrupts it takes the simple past (called).