Choose the best option: When the robbery ____, the safeguard ____!

• A. happened – slept
• B. was happening ~ was sleeping
• C. was happening – slept 
• D. happened – was sleeping

The best option is C. was happening – slept.

This is because the two events happened at the same time. The robbery was happening when the safeguard slept.

Here is a breakdown of the other options:

• A. happened – slept. This option is incorrect because the two events did not happen at the same time. The robbery happened before the safeguard slept.
• B. was happening ~ was sleeping. This option is also incorrect because the tilde (~) is used to indicate that the two events were happening at the same time. However, in this case, the safeguard was not asleep while the robbery was happening.
• D. happened – was sleeping. This option is incorrect because the safeguard was already asleep when the robbery happened.

I hope this helps!

Lựa chọn đúng là C. đang diễn ra – đã ngủ.

Trong câu này, chúng ta đang đề cập đến hai hành động đồng thời trong quá khứ. Hành động đầu tiên, vụ cướp đang diễn ra, vì vậy chúng ta sử dụng thì quá khứ tiếp diễn “đang diễn ra” (option C). Hành động thứ hai, người bảo vệ đang ngủ, là một trạng thái đúng vào thời điểm đó, vì vậy chúng ta sử dụng thì quá khứ đơn “đã ngủ” (option C).