Did/Was it raining when you left your office this afternoon? Why not 'did'?

[antonio l.]

English Grammar Tests, Elementary Level

ESL/EFL Test #95 "auxiliary verbs: was, did, have", question 5

......... it raining when you left your office this afternoon?

(a) Was
(b) Were
(c) Did
(d) Had

English Grammar Tests, Elementary Level

ESL/EFL Test #95 "auxiliary verbs: was, did, have", answer 5

Was it raining when you left your office this afternoon?

Correct answer: (a) Was

Your answer was: incorrect
Did it raining when you left your office this afternoon?
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why is not did?

antonio l.

[Alan]

Hi Antonio,

If you use the simple past, it would be: Did it rain? In the test sentence the verb must be past continuous: ......... it raining when you left your office this afternoon?

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Baotet]

[Beeesneees]

Hi Baotet,

As Alan says, the sentence 'Was it raining when you left your office this afternoon?' is past continuous.
Here the past continuous (was it raining) is used together with the past simple tense (you left).
The past continuous refers to a "longer" or "background" action that was in progress; the past simple refers to a shorter action that interrupted the longer action, or happened in the middle of it.
Here are some more examples of this use of the past continuous tense:
He was walking to the office when he met John.
She was drinking when the phone rang.
While I was working in the garage, I heard a woman scream.

Find out about other uses of the past continuous tense here.

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To use 'will' turns this sentence into a sentence about the future. You would have to say,
"Will it be raining when you leave the office this afternoon?" which is a very odd question, because no-one would be able to answer that with any certainty, as it hasn't happened yet.
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Cheers m' dears!

[Baotet]

[Beeesneees]

Yes, but that is after the rain fell, using 'was it'. Using 'will it be' as you suggested earlier makes it an odd question. as it is a future event.
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Cheers m' dears!