we were sitting in a room vs we sat in a room

Both phrases are correct, but they express slightly different meanings. 'We were sitting in a room' implies an ongoing action of sitting in the past, while 'We sat in a room' indicates a completed action of sitting in the past. The choice between the two phrases depends on if you want to emphasize the continuous nature of the action or simply state the fact of sitting.

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Last updated: December 11, 2024 • 8958 views

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English to describe an ongoing action of sitting in the past.

"we were sitting in a room"

This phrase is used to indicate that at a specific time in the past, the action of sitting was in progress. It emphasizes the continuous nature of the action.

Examples:

We were sitting in a room when the power went out.
They were sitting in a room discussing their plans for the weekend.

Show examples from the web [+]
Last updated: November 20, 2024

Feb 28, 2024 ... We were sitting in a room off of the library, and Mike bounced in with all of his Mike energy. He responded to our questions thoughtfully ...
May 19, 2019 ... We were sitting in a room for our first Sprint Planning. The only thing that was clear: the biggest pain point of our stakeholders. I ...
Jan 10, 2019 ... ... we were sitting in a room with an HIV test counselor holding a test strip that just determined we were HIV-positive. For us, things weren't ...
Feb 8, 2018 ... There we were, sitting in a room, discussing what my friend Demetria had done since our last conversation about her goals. She is a very ...
Jun 1, 2024 ... 63 votes, 21 comments. I was at a friend's house and we were sitting in a room with no air conditioning or fan or any windows open and i was ...
May 18, 2023 ... We were sitting in a room full of little ones for the presentation of the Gospel message. My Pastor held a dollar as he explained Jesus ...
May 14, 2023 ... We were sitting in a room, she just turned the lights out and gave the solo that you hear in the song. Everybody got chills. I'll never ...
Oct 12, 2022 ... Not long after the diagnosis, we were sitting in a room at Stanford Hospital, and he looked at me and said, “Don't worry kid, I'm going to walk ...
Aug 18, 2021 ... For a lot of these songs, I can point to a moment where we were sitting in a room, and things came together, which didn't happen as much on ...
Sep 2, 2011 ... I expressed my concern to a couple of physics upperclassmen earlier this week, when we were sitting in a room grading the 8.01 Advanced Standing ...

Alternatives:

We were seated in a room
We were occupying seats in a room

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English to describe a completed action of sitting in the past.

"we sat in a room"

This phrase is used to state that at a specific time in the past, the action of sitting was completed. It indicates a simple past action without emphasizing its ongoing nature.

Examples:

We sat in a room and waited for the meeting to start.
After the long walk, we sat in a room to rest.

Show examples from the web [+]
Last updated: November 20, 2024

Oct 10, 2019 ... And we sat in a room with Dr. Vokes and Dr. Haraf, Dr. Blair. And first of all, I was surprised because I had been to about four major ...
As we sat in a room at the Russell Senate Building early Monday morning, I quickly scanned my phone, attempting to glean as much information about Senate ...
Mar 13, 2018 ... I met Sean Daniels and invited him to go with me and we sat in a room for five hours and I told him every funny story I have. I briefly ...
We sat in a room with a detective who was fingerprinting some men, next to a room were some women being held, and the questions went on. Perhaps we were not ...
Jul 4, 2017 ... We sat in a room and passed our journals around, writing a note in each. Oh also, I (Tessa) would like to share a very unique experience I ...
We sat in a room waiting for the nurse to bring in him, wishing that we could find some way to keep him going, knowing that it was time. It was one of those ...
"Early on a Saturday morning my waters broke at just 19 weeks 2 days gestation. Our little Evanna was given no chance of survival. We sat in a room for 48 hours ...
If we sat in a room together and discussed our currently reality and our vision for COTV, we would not all see things exactly the same way. We could not ...
Jul 9, 2024 ... leave the blues out on the road" is still available, i think. the day before yesterday we did a press conference in bologna. we sat in a room at ...
Aug 26, 2021 ... During a recent family vacation, I took a painting class. We sat in a room, surrounded by glass on all four sides. The Rocky Mountains stretched ...

Alternatives:

We took a seat in a room
We occupied a chair in a room

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we were sitting in a room vs we sat in a room

"we were sitting in a room"

"we sat in a room"

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