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Stefan Jokić Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Past simple or past continuous

My teacher says that it is: "That's what Anna and I did for six months."
She says that it is a finished action in the past and therefore we use the past simple.
However I do not agree with this. I believe that the emphasis in this sentence is on "for six months" and thus we should use the past simple continuous as it is also an action that occurs over a prolonged period of time.
What is correct and what isn't?
And why?
  

Top answer

BTW if you are looking for the full context to be able to understand: Mike says he isn't looking for a flat to buy, but wants to find something to rent. "

— Stefan Jokić

  • BTW if you are looking for the full context to be able to understand: Mike says he isn't looking for a flat to buy, but wants to find something to rent.
  • "
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11 Answers
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BTW if you are looking for the full context to be able to understand:
Mike says he isn't looking for a flat to buy, but wants to find something to rent.
Then Adam replies: "That's what Anna and I did (<-that's what my teacher says) for six months."
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Susan: I haven't seen you in a long time. Did you and Anna find a place to live?
Jack: Anna and I looked for a place to live. We were looking for a house to buy for six months, but ended up renting an apartment in the center.

This is a case for the past continuous.
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AlpheccaStarsWe were looking for a house to buy for six months, but ended up renting an apartment in the center.
Dear Alp-Stars, I am not a teacher, nor am I a native speaker of this language. I've learned many things from you and am STILL learning.
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Frankly, after a lot of research, I am quite confused at the moment.
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Stefan JokicThat's what Anna and I did for six months.
Correct.

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That's what Anna and I were doing for six months.

This sounds unnatural to my ear, even though it's grammatical, technically speaking. The past continuous expresses an "open time period". There is no stated limit on when an open time period b
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Adam: "Yes, of course. That's what Anna and I did for six months. After that, my brother lent us some money. That's how we managed to buy ours."

It makes sense, I am now able to remind myself about some grammar points. So as far as I know, if you are given an indication of time in the past, you use the past simple. However after for/since + a period of time, we usually put the Present Per
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I might be overthinking things a bit.
Past Perfect Continuous doesn't seems to fit in here either.
What about Past Perfect Simple though?

The "for six months" makes things really confusing to me...
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Stefan JokicI need explanations.
There really is not much to explain. Sometimes there are several alternatives that can be used. Different writers may prefer one over the other, depending on the regional speech patterns, the context of the story, and the purpose.

John and Judy dated for three years before they decided to get married.
John and Judy
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