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Jkobti Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

simple past or past continuous ?

which is correct :
they lived in Poland for many years
or
they were living in Poland for many years
  

Top answer

t T hey lived in Poland for many years . t T hey were living in Poland for many years . Both are grammatically sound.

— Fivejedjon

  • t T hey lived in Poland for many years .
  • t T hey were living in Poland for many years .
  • Both are grammatically sound.
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4 Answers
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t They lived in Poland for many years.

t They were living in Poland for many years.

Both are grammatically sound.

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jkobti which is correct :they lived in Poland for many years orthey were living in Poland for many years
The first strikes me as the more idiomatic way to say it.

CJ
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The second form is past progressive tense, referring to an ongoing event (living in Poland) that happened in the past. This form also implies that they do not live there anymore.
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Anonymouspast progressive tense ... This form also implies that they do not live there anymore.
Not necessarily. It just says what was happening then. There is no information in that sentence about where they are now. For all we know, this may be what happened:

They were living in Poland. Then they moved to Germany, but they didn't like it, so now
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