Adverbial clauses

Question

Hello, I would like to ask you about adverbial clauses of time with the expressions every time and whenever. I would like to know which tense should I use after every time and what tense should be used in the second part of the sentence when I want to express a certain meaning in the past, e.g. Every time I read (was reading) this book, I felt (was feeling very sad).

Every time I did (was doing) this excercise, I made a mistake.

I know that these sentences express a habit in the past but do we always have to use the past simple or is also past continuous possible? Is there any difference in meaning? Does the use of past simple in both parts of the sentence mean that one action followed the other?

I would really appreciate if you could help me.

Thank you

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

These are sentences that I would say using every time and whenever. The actions in the causes are simultaneous, and likely the action in the main clause is caused by (or triggered by) the action in the dependent clause.

Every time I slice an onion, I cry.

Whenever I slice an onion, I cry. (These are very common. It refers to present, past and also implies future. Sliding an onion releases chemicals that cause my eyes to tear up.)

Every time I sliced an onion, I cried.

Whenever I sliced an onion, I cried. (Past experience; it also implies that I don't cry when I slice an onion now.)

Whenever I was slicing an onion, I was crying. (An observation of simultaneous concurrent actions. The simple past is much more common.)

I would not use "every time" with the continuous tense; it implies a discrete event.

Adverbial clauses

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