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Anonymous Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

I am / was expecting

Do you feel any meaning difference or nuance between the two sentences?

1) You are not the wizard that I was expecting.

2) You are not the wizard that I am expecting.

I tried to figure it out, but i can't, so I need your help. What do you think?

Thank you so much as usual and have a good day.
  

Top answer

The difference is in the time reference of the verbs to be . The first, which is probably much more common than the second, says that I had expected something more than what appeared (and the time for waiting is over). The second implies that I'm going to continue to wait.

— Philip

  • The difference is in the time reference of the verbs to be .
  • The first, which is probably much more common than the second, says that I had expected something more than what appeared (and the time for waiting is over).
  • The second implies that I'm going to continue to wait.
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3 Answers
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The difference is in the time reference of the verbs to be. The first, which is probably much more common than the second, says that I had expected something more than what appeared (and the time for waiting is over). The second implies that I'm going to continue to wait.
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"I am" + "-ing" indicates an ongoing state or action. "I was" + "-ing" indicates that the state has changed or the action has ended.
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From an idiomatic angle, I think it is not exactly -right-on. Usually, the construction is " you are not the *** I thought you are." Imagine: People said John can fix anything and I thought he was a very smart guy. Last night, I had problem with the mouse on my computer and I asked John to help me take a look. He ended up crashing my hard drive. Now you can say: J
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