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Asterix Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
Simple past or only past progressive possible?
Dear teachers, the situation is as follows:
Somebody has lost his watch. When asked he says:
Perhaps it dropped off my wrist when I was working in the garden.
-> past progressive is obviously fine because the dropping happened while the person was doing sth.
But is it also possible to say:
.... when I worked in the garden. ?
The idea is that the working action is over at the moment of speaking so that it is not necessary to emphasize this "happening at the very moment-aspect" without losing the original message.
Does that work?
Thanks for your answers!
Somebody has lost his watch. When asked he says:
Perhaps it dropped off my wrist when I was working in the garden.
-> past progressive is obviously fine because the dropping happened while the person was doing sth.
But is it also possible to say:
.... when I worked in the garden. ?
The idea is that the working action is over at the moment of speaking so that it is not necessary to emphasize this "happening at the very moment-aspect" without losing the original message.
Does that work?
Thanks for your answers!
Top answer
Perhaps it dropped off my wrist when I worked in the garden. That is not what most native speakers would say. However, something like this is common: I lost the ability to hear high, soft tones when I worked in the mines.
- Perhaps it dropped off my wrist when I worked in the garden.
- That is not what most native speakers would say.
- However, something like this is common: I lost the ability to hear high, soft tones when I worked in the mines.
- It was a very noisy environment.
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5 Answers
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Perhaps it dropped off my wrist when I worked in the garden.
That is not what most native speakers would say.
However, something like this is common:
I lost the ability to hear high, soft tones when I worked in the mines. It was a very noisy environment.
That is not what most native speakers would say.
However, something like this is common:
I lost the ability to hear high, soft tones when I worked in the mines. It was a very noisy environment.
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AlpheccaStarsThat is not what most native speakers would say.I see, but is it "wrong" or just a little unidiomatic?
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AsterixPerhaps it dropped off my wrist [when / while] I was working in the garden.The typical connector in this pattern is "while". "while" may even force a simple past to take on the meaning of the continuous past, so if you want to use the simple past, "while" would make more sense.
when I worked in the garden seems to refer to a who
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Thank you very much for your help and the time you invested.
Now I understand the difference!!!
But - a final question:
is there a difference in your ranking or in idiomology when we know that this person's working in the garden happened only a few hours earlier?
Now I understand the difference!!!
But - a final question:
is there a difference in your ranking or in idiomology when we know that this person's working in the garden happened only a few hours earlier?
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Asterixis there a difference in your ranking or in idiomology when we know that this person's working in the garden happened only a few hours earlier?No, none at all.
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