Question

Is there a difference between the two interrogative:

What did you do on Monday evening?

What were you doing on Monday evening?

Comments

commented

as far  as day-to-day life conversation is concerned we can use both..but grammatically speaking 1st one sounds more intense and productive work whereas 2nd statement sounds general.......

Answer 1

They differ slightly in tone, however. "What did you do Monday evening?" is more general and casual -- I would ask a work colleague "What did you do this weekend?" as polite chat, for instance. "What were you doing" would generally be followed by "when" -- "What were you doing at 5:00?" or "What were you doing when X happened?" A police officer would ask a suspect, for example, "What were you doing?" at a certain place and time while investigating a case.

Answer 2

No there isn't.

You can use both of them whenever you want.

Answer 3

1, it is past simple tense

2, it is continous past tense

Answer 4

What did you do on Monday evening? [Simple past tense]
What were you doing on Monday evening? [Past continuous tense]
Both sentences are correct in their tenses.

Answer 5

Both of them are correct and have the same meaning.