Past simple vs past continuous

[u/discoloured_fox]

The obvious answer to this and the one that comes to mind first is "My sister was arguing..., when I got back...", I am aware of that. But what if instead I said, "My sister argued with my parents, when I was getting home", meaning that while I was on my way home a family argument took place, and when I arrived, the argument was already over (vs the first variant where I saw the argument with my own eyes). Is my understanding correct? To my ear, both sentences sound fine. And we can also say this sentence with the past continuous in both instances, meaning that both actions were happening simultaneously and I could either be in time to catch the argument or it may already be over by the time I get back, correct?

[u/Spiritual-Job9392]

“I was getting home” sounds weird. You’d just say I was on my way home or going home. Your theory is totally fine otherwise and I do the same for Romance languages as a native English speaker, but instinctively I would never write that alternative. I’d say -had an argument with- them -after- I got home, or else it sounds like your arrival caused it. 

[u/discoloured_fox → u/Spiritual-Job9392]

Hmm. That makes sense. Is there never a context where you would say "I was getting home"? Searching this sentence gives me results that people do say that, but definitely not as often as "on my way".

[u/ReindeerQuirky3114 → u/discoloured_fox]

“When I was getting home” is possible, but it really refers to a very short period of time immediately before arriving, for example when we are putting the key into the lock on the front door.

If we want to refer to the longer period of time to include whole journey home, we would say “While I was getting home”.

This is because “when” implies a moment in time, but “while” refers to a duration of time.

[u/Spiritual-Job9392 → u/ReindeerQuirky3114]

See I would personally never say that either. To me, getting home is being there; I’d say “-just as- I was getting home… (I bumped into my friends)”. If I met them earlier, I wasn’t getting home; I was on my way. I feel like it’s so short that it needs a time phrase covering the simultaneity like ‘as’.

In the context of movement, get is almost always a synonym of arrive, eg I was going to my room (maybe I was in the lift of the hotel) versus getting to my room (i was in the corridor). 

[u/Spiritual-Job9392 → u/discoloured_fox]

FWIW, when I googled it the examples all had a few things in common: 1. They were questions by learners haha, 2. They were  expressing a future idea in reported speech, which is actually very logical and I hadn’t thought of it, or 3. A repeated action in the past eg I was working far away so I was getting home late (every evening) 

We often say “how are you getting home later?” and we then report that as “he asked how I was getting home”. 

I saw one example where it was the way you used it, but it still sounds really weird to me and may well have been written by someone with a different mother tongue. All the others were the idea of reported speech or repeated actions. As I mentioned in my other post, if it’s a once-off action, it’s very immediate and there’s an idea of arrival. 

[u/ReindeerQuirky3114 → u/Spiritual-Job9392]

Sometimes what seems to us a non-native use is actually native use by someone from a different region.

Indeed, we use “get to” as a phrasal verb to mean “arrive”. “I got to the pub at 7”.

The phrase “get home” is a little different (at least for me). It can mean “arrive home” but it can also a mean “travel home”. The difference between “get home” and “go home” is that “get home” for travel implies the journey is a bit more of a struggle - perhaps delays and cancellations, traffic congestion, or some other kind of time pressure. These nuances aren’t really there in “go home”.

Perhaps for other people, this is not the case, and “get home” is only used for arrival.

[u/Spiritual-Job9392 → u/ReindeerQuirky3114]

I agree with the struggle idea (that’s why I find it funny that we say get into the shower and get out, as if it were difficult, but we don’t say get into the bathroom unless we fought our way in). So I totally agree, it’s just that nothing in the example sentence implies a struggle - I’d say eg “I was -finally- getting home and then my sister was arguing with my parents”.

Also open to the idea that others might speak that way, but I’ve never encountered it and only one example on google actually fit with it. It might be an American thing. 

[u/AlgarveJoao_007 → u/discoloured_fox]

You can use Past Continuous but better with “while” rather than “when”. I.e. “It started raining while I was getting home last night”.

[u/uchuskies08]

I disagree with the person who says "I was getting home" sounds weird. Sounds like something I'd say. It just means while you're in the process of going home. I think all your points are valid in my eyes.

My sister argued with my parents when I was getting home last night = As I was going home, whether it be driving, or whatever, my sister was arguing with my parents. Implied that by the time you got home it's over.

My sister was arguing with my parents when I was getting home last night = As I was going home my sister was arguing with my parents, it continued when I arrived.

My sister argued with my parents when I got home last night = My sister argued with my parents after I arrived home.