Differences between tenses!

Question

Hi everybody, Could you please name the tenses or language items that are underlined and explain the difference in meaning?

1)a- I think you are silly.
1)b- I think you are being silly.

2)a- I used to drive.
2)b- I usually drive.
2)c-I am used to driving.

3)a- I cooked dinner when john arrived.
3)b- I was cooking dinner when john arrived.
3)c- I had cooked dinner when john arrived.

Thanks

Michael Chambers Teaching English · Accepted Answer

Your question covers a massive area of the language. This kind of forum can only really answer specific questions once a student has studied the basics of a topic - we can't replace a textbook.

What you could do is try to answer your own questions and give reasons for your answers. We can then see your thinking process and give you accurate feedback on what you got right and what you didn't.

Kind regards, Michael

CalifJim · Answer

virginia2741)a- I think you are silly.

All the time. You are a silly person.

virginia2741)b- I think you are being silly.

Just now. You're in a silly mood.

virginia2742)a- I used to drive.

Some time ago. Maybe not now anymore.

virginia2742)b- I usually drive.

Most of the time.

virginia2742)c-I am used to driving.

I'm accustomed to driving so it's easy for me to do.

virginia2743)a- I cooked dinner when John arrived.

John arrived. Then I cooked dinner.

virginia2743)b- I was cooking dinner when John arrived.

I started cooking dinner. I was still doing that, but I hadn't finished. That's when John arrived.

virginia2743)c- I had cooked dinner when John arrived.

I cooked dinner. Later John arrived.

CJ

Michael Chambers Teaching English · Answer

I'm not sure what the right approach on this forum to this kind of question from students should be.  The questions are very wide.  I've encouraged the questioner to study the basics and come back to us, but then you've cut across this approach by giving answers.  I don't mind but it would be useful to know the usual practice on this forum, as there seems to be some kind of consistency of approach from regular contributors.

CalifJim · Answer

Michael Chambers Teaching EnglishI'm not sure what the right approach on this forum to this kind of question from students should be.

No one else is either, so don't feel like the Lone Ranger. I did not name the tenses because I thought the OP should at least try that part. I don't know what "language items" are so I ignored that. But I felt that the OP was incapable of writing a coherent description of the meanings because some of them are rather subtle. (Small letter 'john' was a clue.) Any attempt by the OP (in my judgment) would just have to be redone by one of the rest of us anyway, and that would have wasted everyone's time. It's much harder to erase misconceptions that have already been reasoned through by the OP than to start with a blank slate and fill in the correct reasoning for them.

Michael Chambers Teaching English I don't mind but it would be useful to know the usual practice on this forum

There isn't one. Standard schoolroom exercises and anything that looks like homework that should be easy to handle are usually thrown back to the students to do first. Questions that require nuanced answers are usually answered directly. Each member is on his own on this matter.

Nine times out of ten when I ask the OP to give answers first, someone else answers anyway, and the 10th time out of 10, nobody answers anything and the thread goes dead because the OP is too timid to try or goes to another forum where they can get easy answers with less effort.

The ones that drive me nuts are when the OP asks a yes/no question and someone says, "You answer first". Total waste of time. Anyone can guess "Yes" or "No" just to satisfy such a vacuous request. Then the answer comes back either "Right" or "Wrong" and the OP who guessed still doesn't understand anything of the principles behind the answer.

That's the long way of saying "Use your own judgment".

CJ

Virginia274 · Answer

First of all, thanks for helping

Second, I never thought it could reach to this point! Well, I did the questions myself, after I saw the first reply

But I wasn't sure about my answers. BTW, after I saw your reply CJ, I got really happy, not because of getting the answers easily, but because at last someone helped me

I am really thankful of both of you Michael Chambers Teaching English and CalifJim

I will try my best not to ask these kind of general questions here again.

Differences between tenses!

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