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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Present Continuous/ time length

Is it grammatically wrong if I said "I was working on mathematics for an hour."??
I was wondering if that could alternate a past participle sentence like:
"I had been working on mathematics for an hour." or
"I have done working on mathematics which took me an hour to finish."
  

Top answer

Anonymous Is it grammatically wrong if I said "I was working on mathematics for an hour. No that is fine. " Is also fine but not the last phrase..

— LouiseT

  • Anonymous Is it grammatically wrong if I said "I was working on mathematics for an hour.
  • No that is fine.
  • " Is also fine but not the last phrase..
  • Last night I had been working on mathematics for an hour when the telephone rang.
  • (for example)
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8 Answers
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AnonymousIs it grammatically wrong if I said "I was working on mathematics for an hour.
No that is fine.
Anonymous"I had been working on mathematics for an hour."
Is also fine but not the last phrase..

Last night I had been working on mathematics for an hour when the telephone rang. (for example)
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AnonymousI was working on mathematics for an hour."...
"I had been working on mathematics for an hour."
These are correct grammatically, but past progressives with time periods are usually used as "set-ups". They describe a situation against which some event takes place. That is, the listener expects some further information to follow. After hearing one
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Hi I had one question

Can you leave out "working" in

Since the teacher gives me so much work, I'm still (working) on my homework at midnight.

Thank you
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alc24Can you leave out "working" in
Since the teacher gives me so much work, I'm still (working) on my homework at midnight.
Only if you replace it with another verb. "I'm still doing my homework" for example.
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So you can't say

"I'll still be on it tomorrow, if you give me this much work to do."

as in french one says

Je serai toujours dessus si....

Thank you
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alc24So you can't say
"I'll still be on it tomorrow, if you give me this much work to do."
I would say " I'll still be doing it tomorrow ,....."

I have heard people using "I'll still be on it, ...." I do not know how acceptable it is. Certainly it isn't widely accepted in the UK. Maybe it is used more in the USA?

It is not possible
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Thank you Louise,

CJ since you are American, can you tell me if "I'll still be on it" is acceptable in the US and if people use it?

Thank you
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I believe I may have heard it, but I wouldn't say it's the usual thing to say. "working on it" seems to me to be the more idiomatic form.

CJ
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