past simple or past continuous?

[dorax]

I came across the following sentences in an exercise:"Margaret was replying all the letters she received last week." and "The chambermaid made my bed in the hotel and cleaned the bathroom while I was having breakfast." I wanted to ask if "replied" is correct in the first sentence. In the second sentence, isn't it correct to write "was making" and "was cleaning" since there is "while" in the sentence showing that two actions were parallel?

 

[GoesStation]

Please tell us where you saw these sentences.

The first is incorrect. You reply to something. The second is fine with the past simple The past continuous would be possible if the cleaning wasn't finished or you had to emphasize that the cleaning was ongoing at the time.

 

[Tdol]

As a standalone sentence the first does not work- there has to be a reason for the continuous form. What's the wider context?

 

[dorax]

As a standalone sentence the first does not work- there has to be a reason for the continuous form. What's the wider context?

It was just a standalone sentence from an exercise in a textbook and the correct answer was with past continuous. That's why I wanted to ask you why this is so. And you solved my question.

 

[emsr2d2]

Please provide the title and author(s) of the textbook. That's the information we're looking for every time we ask "Where did you see ...?"