0
Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
The past
Hello, I need help with the following sentences. Could you please tell me which of them are correct?
In the past, people bought much more vegetable than they do these days.
In the past, people were buying much more vegetable than they do these days.
In the past, people paid much less for a mobile phone than they do these days.
In the past, people were paying much less for a mobile phone than they do these days.
In the past, they produced less cars than they do these days.
In the past, they were producing less cars than they do these days.
In the past, people bought much more vegetable than they do these days.
In the past, people were buying much more vegetable than they do these days.
In the past, people paid much less for a mobile phone than they do these days.
In the past, people were paying much less for a mobile phone than they do these days.
In the past, they produced less cars than they do these days.
In the past, they were producing less cars than they do these days.
Top answer
The even ones are (almost) fine but they too could benefit from using a progressive (are buying/paying/producing). In fact that's what I would say. The odd ones are grammatical but don't convey the intended meaning.
- The even ones are (almost) fine but they too could benefit from using a progressive (are buying/paying/producing).
- In fact that's what I would say.
- The odd ones are grammatical but don't convey the intended meaning.
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
5 Answers
0
The even ones are (almost) fine but they too could benefit from using a progressive (are buying/paying/producing). In fact that's what I would say.
The odd ones are grammatical but don't convey the intended meaning.
The odd ones are grammatical but don't convey the intended meaning.
00
In the past, people bought many more vegetables than they do these days.
(X) In the past, people were buying many more vegetables than they do these days.-- No good. Past progressive is used to provide a background situation for another action.
In the past, people paid much less for mobile phones than they do these days.
(X) In
(X) In the past, people were buying many more vegetables than they do these days.-- No good. Past progressive is used to provide a background situation for another action.
In the past, people paid much less for mobile phones than they do these days.
(X) In
00
Yes, fewer cars and vegetables, I overlooked that. Thanks. But I'm not sure why exactly the progressive doesn't work. You often come across a sentence like
Even better news for property investors is that the majority of tenants can afford to pay more. Three-quarters of the respondents reported that they were paying less than a third of their income in rent and half were paying less
Even better news for property investors is that the majority of tenants can afford to pay more. Three-quarters of the respondents reported that they were paying less than a third of their income in rent and half were paying less
00
Three-quarters of the respondents reported that they were paying less than a third of their income in rent and half were paying less than a quarter of their pay on accommodation. -- This is present progressive regressed in reported speech, not past progressive used in its own right. The repetition is irrelevant to the use of the past progressive form.
00
Sorry, that was a bad example.
Anyway I won't object if you find the progressive absolutely unacceptable there. My reasoning was simply that, while there were no second past verb in that sentence and no explicit past time frame was given, one can (and I certainly did just that) assume a time frame and that would be the background situation you were talking about.
For instance, c
Anyway I won't object if you find the progressive absolutely unacceptable there. My reasoning was simply that, while there were no second past verb in that sentence and no explicit past time frame was given, one can (and I certainly did just that) assume a time frame and that would be the background situation you were talking about.
For instance, c
0
Related Questions