preterit & imperfect.

Question

Sometimes it is so confusing for me to choose between preterit and

imperfect.

For example

The ceremony was magnificent. -> La ceremonia fue/era magnifica.

I think it is describing character of ceremony, so I chose era, but fue is the answer for that sentence in my textbook.

Explique , por favor. Gracias.

Answer 1

Basically, you use the preterite because you're talking about the ceremony as a whole, as finished, and looked at from the outside.

For a challenge(?), look at this article to see the difference succinctly explained.