1. Tom: What did you do last night? John: ____.
(A) I was watching TV. (B) I watched TV.
2. Tom: What did you do last night? John: ____.
(A) I was reading a book. (B) I read a book.
What do you think are the correct answers to the above questions?
Thanks very much for your reply.
(A) I was watching TV. (B) I watched TV.
2. Tom: What did you do last night? John: ____.
(A) I was reading a book. (B) I read a book.
What do you think are the correct answers to the above questions?
Thanks very much for your reply.
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Comments
But if John didn't finished the book, can he reply, "I was reading a book, (but didn't finish it.)"?
What did you do last night? Oh, I read a book... (but I didn't finish it) or I read a book --- something completed but perhaps not finished.
What did you do last night? I was reading a book... (until my friends came to visit.)
Anybody else?
For the pedantic, you could say, 'I read my book' or 'I read some of my book'. 'My' implies a particular book that you are reading, but it might have other subtle implications too.
The thing is, if you say, 'I read some of a book', it's ok-ish but it sounds like an unnecessary specification. On the other hand, if you say 'I read a book', it's possible you might get some smart-a*ss reply like, 'What, you read a whole book last night!' You can't win because the expression can have two meanings and only makes sense when the context is taken seriously.
"What did you do last night?" - "I went out with some friends. See, I was reading a book when they phoned me and asked if I wanted to go with them to ..."
On the other hand, had the question been "What were you doing at 10 PM last night?", then the answer could have been "I was reading a book" (or "I was sleeping")
You could say 'I read a book for a bit', I suppose, and if you DID say 'I was reading' in reply to, 'What did you do yesterday evening?', there wouldn't be shock and horror. Even though it's technically incorrect, I can imagine myself saying it to avoid the slight ambiguity of 'I read a book.'