Time expressions - past	

Before	As soon as	
After	During	
When	By the time	
While	As	

______ I had dinner, I called Sally.	_________ I'd done the ironing, Tom tidied up the flat.	
_______ I called Sally, I had dinner.	__________ dinner we talked about Sally's news.	
________ I'd had dinner, I called Sally.	___________ I'd done the ironing, I was exhausted.	
________ I was having dinner I called Sally.	__________ I was doing the ironing, Tom arrived.	
________ I picked up the phone, it stopped ringing.	__________ the morning a parcel arrived. 	
_________ I did the ironing, Tom tidied up the flat.	___________ I'd had dinner, it was too late to call Sally.	
___________ I was leaving the house, the post came.	_________ I left the house, the post came.	

Answers

Note: other combinations will sometimes be heard. However, the following are in common use.

After / before		I had dinner, I called Sally.	(sequence / reverse sequence)	
After / when 	I'd had dinner, I called Sally. 	(sequence)	
While / when	I was having dinner I called Sally.	(interrupted past)	
Before / after / during 	dinner we talked about Sally's news. 	(preposition + noun / noun phrase)	
After / when	I'd done the ironing, Tom tidied up the flat.	 (sequence)	
While / after / before		I did the ironing, Tom tidied up the flat.	(simultaneous action / sequence / reverse sequence)	
When / By the time / after	I'd done the ironing, I was exhausted.	(sequence)	
While 	/ when		I was doing the ironing, Tom arrived. 	(interrupted past)	
When / as	I picked up the phone, it stopped ringing.	(sequence / simultaneous action)	
During		the morning a parcel arrived. 	(preposition+ noun / noun phrase)	
When / by the time / after	I'd had dinner, it was too late to call Sally. 	(sequence)	
As / while	I was leaving the house, the post came.	(interrupted past)	
When / as / after / before	I left the house, the post came. 	(sequence / simultaneous action)	

		

[scroll down for notes]
Notes	

(1)  As and while
'As' is more commonly used for shorter interrupted actions; 'while' suggests a longer action.
As I was leaving the house, the post came. (Leaving the house only takes a short time)
While I was having dinner I called Sally. (Having dinner takes a longer time)

(2)  When with past simple and past perfect

With short actions, when + past simple clause + past simple clause tells us that the second action starts at the end of the first action:

When I got home, I had a shower. (First I got home. Then I had a shower.)
When Tom arrived, we started dinner. (First Tom arrived. Then we started dinner.)

In these examples, 'get home' and 'arrive' are actions that only take a short time and are clearly finished before the next actions start.

When the first action is longer, we often use the past perfect tense to show that this first action is complete before the next action starts:

When we'd had dinner, we played cards.
When the waiters had  prepared the table, we all sat down.	

In these examples, if we didn't use the past perfect, the time would be unclear:

When we had dinner, we played cards
 (after dinner or during dinner?)

When the waiters prepared the table, we all sat down
 (after they prepared the table or while they were preparing it?)

(3) During
		
During is a preposition and is followed by a noun or noun phrase, not a clause

(4) By the time

By the time works like 'when' with past simple or past perfect but emphasizes that the action was delayed, took a long time or was late in some way.

By the time I got home it was too late to call Sally.
By the time we got to the party, all the food had been eaten.
By the time I finished work it was nearly midnight.
By the time we'd cleared up, we were exhausted.

You could use 'when' in any of these examples but you would lose the emphasis that the action had taken a long time or was late.