What were you doing at 10:30 yesterday? or what did you do at 10:30 yesterday?

Both A and C are correct. The test has been poorly designed.

Either works, depending on the context. Given no context, I think either can be considered correct.

Both are correct depending on the context. A feels more like a continuous action happening at 10:30, but C feels like an action that started at exactly 10:30

Probably "were you doing" because, without any other context, I'm assuming the point in time occurs during the activity. Cf., "I was speaking when you interrupted me." However, one could also reasonably say "did you do" if the situation were such that before 10:30 you weren't doing that thing and only started it at that time. Cf., "At 10:30 the bell rang and class ended."

Both are valid. If this is all the context the question gives you it's poorly written

> What did you do at 10:30 yesterday? implication: there was something you started doing at 10:30. > What were you doing at 10:30 yesterday? implication: there was something you were in the middle of doing at 10:30. if you don't know enough to make that distinction, either is generally natural.

I’m a native and these both make sense to me. A sounds a bit more formal, and C sounds more casual. I think the problem is the sentence ending with the word yesterday. C sounds off to me in that written form, but it conversation you could use it and I wouldn’t tell.

Both, technically

Either works. You may hear D from native speakers too, but it’s not standard

The answer is A. The timestamp interrupts the activity you were engaged in at that time. As in: What were you doing when the phone rang? Compare: What did you do when the phone rang? Here, we have a specific event, and we want to know what you did in response to that event: I answered it.

A. I was at my store, getting ready to close. This is what I was doing. C. I shut down the register at my story (getting ready to close). This is what I did.

A and C are both grammatically correct. A is the past imperfect while C is the past perfect, i.e. A is asking what someone was in the act of doing in the past while C is asking about what completed action was done in the past.

Answer A is also correct. But it implies something slightly different. A is in past continuous form, which implies that the thing you were doing at 10:30, started before 10:30, happened at 10:30, and then ended sometime after 10:30. For example: “What were you doing at 10:30 yesterday?” “I was watching a movie” The movie I was watching started at some point before 10:30, was playing at 10:30, and finished at some point after 10:30. Answer C is in simple past which implies a thing that happened specifically at 10:30. Which generally would have the same answer as a question in past continuous form. Because (using my previous example) specifically at 10:30 you were in fact watching a movie. It just so happened that the movie was also playing before and after 10:30. I have a feeling the answer was C because the use of “at 10:30” somewhat implies “I what to know specifically AT 10:30, what you were doing” so then the answer would be “What did you do at 10:30 yesterday” but honestly that feels kinda stilted and a bit weird. I’d only ever ask it that way if I intentionally ONLY wanted to know what precisely you did AT 10:30. Generally though native English speakers won’t say it that way because most things in life are continuous and happen over time, so asking “what were you doing” is better. I hope this helps!!!

Q: “What were you doing at 10:30 yesterday?” A: “I was eating an apple.” Q: “What did you do at 10:30 yesterday?” A: “I ate an apple.”

It depends on the context, both are correct. “Were you doing” implies the action was already occuring before 10:30, “did you do” implies the action started at 10:30. In general speech, A would be a lot more common. Think in a courtroom setting with a witness on the stand and the laywer asking a similar question. They’re probably asking “what were you doing”

A.

D is also often heard in England (south) but grammatically incorrect.

I think they're both correct

It's a mistake. Both are possible but most people, like you, would choose past continuous. A means you had already started before 10.30 but the activity was still in progress. At 10.30, I was eating C is asking about what you did at that exact moment. Possible, but unusual because it's so exact and who would remember? At 10.30, I looked at my phone.

A and C are correct.

"What were you doing" suggests they're asking exactly what you were in the middle of at 10:30. Whereas, "what did you do" suggests they're asking what activity you completed around that time. Also "what did you do" is less formal and also less accusatory.

This is a stupid textbook technicality (I edit ESL textbooks). In spoken language, both A and C are correct. The reason C is the right answer here is that "at 10:30" is not appropriate for a continuous action. It's a single point in time describing a completed past action. If the sentence were, "what \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ yesterday morning?" Then "were you doing" would be 'textbook' correct because "morning" is an extended period.

A and C are both OK. Some past actions are momentary - I got home. I caught the bus. I turned on the lights. Some take time - I was eating, I was reading, I was watching TV. When asking that question, you don't know which tense will be used in the answer, so both are OK. You *might* choose one or the other so that the person answering knows the type of info that you want. For example, a policeman asking questions. If she says, "What did you do at xx:xx", you are more likely to give a short, precise answer: I left, I saw, I gave, I told. If they ask what you were doing, it gives the expectation of a longer answer: I was ???ing something, an ongoing activity - hence eliciting a more descriptive response.

A. This is a textbook past continuous question. Action done by the subject at a specific time in the past: past continuous question

both are correct but one sounds more accusatory to me. “what were you doing” is inquisitive and not very confrontational, while “what did you do” sounds like you may be mad at the person you’re talking to. that’s just me though.

Depends on what tense they asked you to use

A & C are both right in context. You'll also hear a lot of people say D, one of those common spoken mistakes, especially among young people in England.

I agree with what everyone said, but in casually-spoken English, I do hear some people say “what is you doing” or “what was you doing”, but I’d avoid talking like that unless you’re just chilling with friends or something