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Diamondrg Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

past continuous / past perfect

0To me, it is really weard to relate the two, but sometimes it is being mind-boggliing. Now I want to ask whether past perfect can be in the past continuous. For example:02br
02br
00- While I 01font00was writing02font00 an e-mail to my e-friend, I 01font00noticed02font00 that I 01font00had misspelt02font00 some words. 02br
02br
00Here I think "had misspelt" happened during "was writing", but still it seems strange to me. 02br
02br
00Am I mistaken?0-
  

Top answer

0 01blockquote 01cite 10Diamondrg12cite 12br 10To me, it is really weard to relate the two, but sometimes it is being mind-boggliing. Now I want to ask whether past perfect can be in the past continuous. For example:12br 12br 10- While I 11font 10was writing12font 10 an e-mail to my e-friend, I 11font 10noticed12font 10 that I 11font 10had misspelt12font 10 some words.

— Goodman

  • 0 01blockquote 01cite 10Diamondrg12cite 12br 10To me, it is really weard to relate the two, but sometimes it is being mind-boggliing.
  • Now I want to ask whether past perfect can be in the past continuous.
  • For example:12br 12br 10- While I 11font 10was writing12font 10 an e-mail to my e-friend, I 11font 10noticed12font 10 that I 11font 10had misspelt12font 10 some words.
  • 12br 12br 10Here I think "had misspelt" happened during "was writing", but still it seems strange to me.
  • 12br 12blockquote 12br 02br 02br 02br 02br 00 00While I 01font 00was writing02font 00 an e-mail to my e-friend, 01font 00I 00noticed02font 00 that I 01font 00had misspelled02font 00 00 00some words.
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9 Answers
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Diamondrg12cite12br
10To me, it is really weard to relate the two, but sometimes it is being mind-boggliing. Now I want to ask whether past perfect can be in the past continuous. For example:12br
12br
10- While I 11font10was writing12font10 an e-mail to my e
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0 thank you, Goodman. 0-
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0 My pleasure! 0-
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0What would your take be if the sentence was:02br
02br
00- While I 01font00was writing02font00 an e-mail to my e-friend, I 01font00noticed02font00 that I 01font00misspelt02font00 some words. 0-
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0 Hello again02br
02br
00The following is my humble thought.02br
02br
00What I'd like to say at first is:02br
00"While I was writing an e-mail", when it comes before the main clause, modifies wholeof the main clause "I noticed I misspelled some words". More specifically, the while-clause modifies the main statement "I noticed". On the other ha
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0 100% agreed. a simple past tense to describe "misspelled" and "noticed" is perfectly acceptable in daily life. 0-
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01. While I was writing an e-mail to my e-friend, I noticed that I had misspelt some words. 02br
02br
00— this seems to me the standard version: the "noticing" follows the "misspelling", and both take place during the "writing".02br
02br
002. While I was writing an e-mail to my e-friend, I noticed that I misspelt some words. 02br
02br
00
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0 01blockquote
01cite10MrPedantic12cite101. While I was writing an e-mail to my e-friend, I noticed that I had misspelt some words. 12br
12br
10— this seems to me the standard version: the "noticing" follows the "misspelling", and both take place during the "writing".12br
12br
102. While I was writing an e-mail t
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There is past perfect continuous, so you could, and more correctly, should say "I noticed that I had been misspelling some words." Hope that helps. P.S., it's "weird" not "weard". Sorry, just the English teacher in me.
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