Past progressive

Question

Hi guys,Can I say (speaking of something that I got in the habit of doing in the past):"I really enjoyed cycling in those days. I was riding my bike to work daily back then".Can I use the past progressive here? I know that I can certainly use the simple past ("I rode my bike") or "would" ("I would ride my bike…), but could you please confirm if the past progressive is okay as well?For what it's worth it looks fine to me.Thank you,Doris

Xerxes · Accepted Answer

DorisPaoCan I say (speaking of something that I got in the habit of doing in the past):"I really enjoyed cycling in those days. I was riding my bike to work daily back then".

I don't think so, Doris. One of the uses of the past continuous/progressive is to describe some ongoing activity that has ended or give this activity an emotional shade that is not meant to be taken literally. For example:

I was riding my bike all day yesterday. (It was ongoing, did not end while it lasted, but eventually it ended).
I was riding my bike all the time back then. (You did a lot of it, but not literally all the time. Not even Lance Armstrong did.)

Your biking was not so much an ongoing activity (it was constantly interrupted every day, since you weren't biking all day long!) as a repetitive one, in which case you should use, as you have already acknowledged yourself, these two:
I rode my bike to work daily back then.
I would ride my bike to work daily back then.

Xerxes · Answer

XerxesOne of the uses of the past continuous/progressive is to describe some ongoing activity that has ended or give this activity an emotional shade that is not meant to be taken literally.

I should have added: "…literally…or represents a habitual state". For example,
Back then we were doing all sorts of drugs.
It doesn't mean that we were doing it all the time back then, just that it was a habitual state that ended at some point.
But in your example, "every day" pretty much puts paid to that.

I hope this is clear.

CalifJim · Answer

DorisPao(speaking of something that I got in the habit of doing in the past):"I really enjoyed cycling in those days. I was riding my bike to work daily back then".Can I use the past progressive here?

I have to say, pace Xerxes, that the past progressive sounds completely natural to my ear in that context.

CJ

Xerxes · Answer

I have to say that this morning, feeling a bit fresher, the original sentence that I've vetoed earlier looks natural to me as well.

Past progressive

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