1 .
If you're interested in English and some of its best-known literature, you may well know of the 'Alice' books by Lewis Carroll (real name: Charles Lutwidge Dogdson) ~ who was in fact a teacher of mathematics and logic at the University of Oxford, about 150 years ago. The books are full of word-play (like the poem 'Jabberwocky') and logical tricks. At one point there is a poem about 'The Walrus and the Carpenter', which begins:
'The sun ... ... on the sea, Shining with all his might (...)
And this ... ... odd, because it was The middle of the night.'
... shone ... / ... was ...
... was shining ... / ... was being ...
... was shining ... / ... was ...
... shone ... / ... was being ...
'The sun was shining .. ' is a long(-ish)-term, continuous happening (even in Britain, if you're lucky with the weather!).
'The middle of the night' (i.e. midnight) is a relatively short moment in time. In any case we do not usually say 'was being' (as in Answers 2 & 4) except when we are forming a Past Passive ('I did not realise the road was being repaired, or I would have come round another way').