Toeic/ Tense

LcchangWhen the Research Department (A) started (B) working on a new shampoo, we (C) received phone calls from other researchers who (D) worked on the same kind of project.

Do you know which underlined part is incorrect? I can't. Please advise.

When the Research Department ) started working on a new shampoo, we received phone calls from oth

Yoong LiatWhen the Research Department ) started working on a new shampoo, we received phone calls from other researchers who (D) were working on the same kind of project.

I'd use 'were working' .

I agree to the above suggestion.

In fact the original sentence appears all right.

However,

May I ask why we can't use simple past tense for (D)?

Yoong Liat
When the Research Department ) started working on a new shampoo, we received phone calls from other researchers who (D) were working on the same kind of project.

I use 'were working' so that it is consistent with 'started working'.

Sorry, but I am still confused. I thought working was formed by (start + V-ing). I wonder why these two have to be consistent. Please advise.

When the Research Department started working on a new shampoo, we received phone calls from other researchers working on the same kind of project.

I can understand the change you've made, which sounds fine to me. In the meantime however, you seem to have taken out the word "who" which is not an underlined word and must stay in the sentence.

In any case, I'd just like to find out if (D) can keep its original tense. Please advise.

To me, (D) can be in the simple past tense or as suggested the past continuous. Do you know the difference between these two tenses?

I was working on my homework when she came home.
I worked my homework and then washed the dishes.

Do you see the difference? The first emphasizes that the activity of doing homework was on-going or temporary (expected to finish soon).

Regardless of the underlined words, I try to put the sentence in the following way:

When the Research Department was working on a new shampoo, we received phone calls from other researchers who were working on the same kind of project.

But back to the original sentence, I was confused about which action goes first, second, and third. Do "started working on the shampoo" and "rece

Logically, you start/kick off the project, then you start receiving phone calls from interested parties (other researchers). Assuming you use the past continous, they may or may not have started similar projects before you did.