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Lucas21c Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
Could you give me some explanations about the diffences of meanings in my sentences?
I have difficulty to indentify the differences of the following sentences though I know they have different meanings with the sentence, "He didn’t hear the doorbell when his visitors arrived, because he was taking a shower."
From them, I can assume that he didn't go to a remote corner of the house to dry off, or that his ears always rang for half and hour after a shower. However I still don't know what is the exact differences between them or even that there is any difference.
Could you give me any explanation about it?
Thank you.=
1. He didn’t hear the doorbell when his visitors arrived, because he had taken a shower.
2. He didn’t hear the doorbell when his visitors arrived, because he had been taking a shower.
From them, I can assume that he didn't go to a remote corner of the house to dry off, or that his ears always rang for half and hour after a shower. However I still don't know what is the exact differences between them or even that there is any difference.
Could you give me any explanation about it?
Thank you.=
1. He didn’t hear the doorbell when his visitors arrived, because he had taken a shower.
2. He didn’t hear the doorbell when his visitors arrived, because he had been taking a shower.
Top answer
" -- He was in the shower when the visitors arrived. " -- He took a shower some time before the visitors arrived. The reason why this should affect his ability to hear the doorbell is not clear.
- " -- He was in the shower when the visitors arrived.
- " -- He took a shower some time before the visitors arrived.
- The reason why this should affect his ability to hear the doorbell is not clear.
- " -- He was showering during the period up to the time at which the visitors arrived.
- To me, this wording seems unnecessarily imprecise.
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1 Answers
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"He didn’t hear the doorbell when his visitors arrived, because he was taking a shower." -- He was in the shower when the visitors arrived.
"He didn’t hear the doorbell when his visitors arrived, because he had taken a shower." -- He took a shower some time before the visitors arrived. The reason why this should affect his ability to hear the doorbell is not clear.
"He didn’t hear the doorbell when his visitors arrived, because he had taken a shower." -- He took a shower some time before the visitors arrived. The reason why this should affect his ability to hear the doorbell is not clear.
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