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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

"pretended to be reading" and "was pretending to read"

Hi mates,

Can anyone tell me the difference between "pretended to be reading" and "was pretending to read"?

Does "1. Tom pretended to be reading the newspaper" have a similar meaning to "2. Tom pretended that he was reading the newspaper"?

But how about " 3. Tom was pretending to read the newspaper"?

Is 3 similar to both 1 and 2 as well???

Thanks in advance!!!!

Des
  

Top answer

1. Tom pretended to be reading the newspaper. 2.

— Mister Micawber

  • 1.
  • Tom pretended to be reading the newspaper.
  • 2.
  • Tom pretended that he was reading the newspaper.
  • 3.
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4 Answers
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1. Tom pretended to be reading the newspaper.

2. Tom pretended that he was reading the newspaper.

3. Tom was pretending to read the newspaper.

All 3 obviously refer to the same past action. #1 and #2 are identical in intent; it is just two ways of saying the same thing. #3 posits the existence of another event which is not mentioned in your sentence, an event which occ
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Thank your very much for your answer.

I think you have solved my dobuts~ Emotion: smile

But, by the way, do you know under what
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under what situations we should use the strucuture [verb + to be + (verb+ing)]-- There are no particular situations that I am aware of.

Or are there any specific verbs which can be or usually followed by [to be + (verb+ing)]?- I would guess that there were many:

want to be dancing

would like to be hiking

be thought to be studying
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