Using Simple past and past progressive [closed]

We had a chat while we waited for our flights.

Is Simple past also used after While? I saw it in a grammar book, and I'm not sure if it's correct.

Solution 1:

Do you have doubts because the simple past refers to a discrete past action with a defined beginning and end, unlike the "imperfect", in some languages?

It is grammatical (and it makes sense) to say while we waited because waiting does not have a defined beginning and end.

But if the action of the verb is something that does have a defined beginning and end, then it doesn't partner well with while:

They had a chat while I tripped over my shoelace.

That sentence would either cause some semantic dissonance or would be understood to mean that you were walking around repeatedly tripping over your shoelace.

Let's reverse that sentence:

I tripped over my shoelace while they chatted.

I tripped over my shoelace while they were chatting.

The second sentence there, with were chatting, is more idiomatic, to my ear. The first again has some semantic dissonance which makes it slightly comical.

And it's not comical because tripping is funny in a slapstick way:

The toddler tripped over his shoelace while his dad chatted about sports.

The toddler tripped over his shoelace while his dad was chatting about sports.

In the first, there is the sense that the toddler was repeatedly tripping, but in the second, only that a single trip took place during the time of the chat.