Past Continuous Required But Past Simple Used

Left or just leaving?





They paid for their purchases and left the mini-market together. Eh Poh Nim was manoeuvring her shopping cart down the ramp when she saw a man running along the road. He was headed in her direction.

The above is a paragraph taken from a newspaper Article, Life in the idioms, which is a narative account of events happening in the writer's encounter with her neighbour at a mini-market.

The hightlighted verb "left" indicates a completed act of leaving, but the next sentence still talks about the process of leaving.

Such verb should be in past continuous tense to avoid a lapse in logical sequence.

Re-written the paragraph should read as "They paid for their purchases and were leaving the mini-market together. Eh Poh Nim was manoeuvring her shopping cart down the ramp when she saw a man running along the road. He was headed in her direction.