[It was boiling for a while] VS [It'd been boiling for a while/It boiled for a while]

[Marika33]

I can't understand why the man on the right (Todd Howard) uses the past continuous here, "It was boiling for a while". After everything I've learned here on this forum about using the past simple vs the past continuous with duration, I would assume that he should have said "It boiled for a while" or "It'd been boiling for a while".

(the exact moment from the YouTube-video)

 

[Piscean]

That's a classic situation for the past continuous - (limited) duration of a past situation. The past simple places less emphasis on the ongoingness of the situation. The past perfect progressive is possible, but not essential.

Remember that more than one tense/aspect is possible in many situation.

 

[Marika33]

That's a classic situation for the past continuous - (limited) duration of a past situation.

Hmm... Is it then correct to say, "I was learning how to code all summer"? It's a "(limited) duration of a past situation", after all.

A: How was your summer?
B: Pretty boring. I was learning to code the whole summer/all summer/the whole time.

 

[Piscean]

That's fine.