Are both forms grammatically correct?
As I was entering the shop, I saw her.
As I entered the shop, I saw her.
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Yes, because the action of entering can be seen as either an instant in time (one moment you're out, the next you're in), or an process with a certain duration (the time during which you open the door, get past the entrance, etc.). In your first case (“as I was entering the shop”), you're saying that you saw here during that lapse of time. In the second case (“as I entered the shop”), you're saying things happened simultaneously. Both cases may be best exemplified as equivalent to:
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You can use either. In that sentence, there is no difference in meaning between those two uses. The "as I was" adds immediacy to "entered" and doesn't give any extra immediacy to "was entering". |
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Actually, when I read the question, I wondered about ‘As entering’. ‘entering’ is the gerund form, ‘was entering’ is past progressive/continuous. [Oh, checked back, psmears beat me to it.] For the ‘ing’ form, gerund = participle. There's another participle, ‘entered’, ‘gone’. It's often confusing labeled ‘past partciple’. |
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