jutfrank
VIP Member
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2014
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- England
- Current Location
- England
would you please, tell me why it's not correct if I followed the rule- past simple is used to talk about an action that interrupts and past continous is used to talk about an action that is interrupted
It's because that isn't what the sentence means. The sentence doesn't describe an action that is interrupted by another action.
The city was going about its business [This describes a past situation]
without knowing the aliens had arrived. [The aliens arrived before the past situation, so you need past perfect]
Perhaps you're misunderstanding the sentence to mean this:
The city was going about its business when the aliens arrived.
In this sentence, the action expressed by the aliens arrived interrupts the ongoing situation of The city was going about its business.