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Anonymous Posted 18 years ago
Grammar
Use of past continuous
Hi,
Do you think the underlined parts represent good use of past continuous tenses? I think the first one isn't a past continuous tense but something that expresses his future intention from a past vantage point -- I don't know the name of the tense if you ask me. I think I learned somewhere that a past continuous could be used to describe what happen in a moment of time when a stream of events is (are?) considered like this:
At two thirty, she was sowing a sweater. -- probably used in the context of her continuing to sow and has not stopped sowing at the time of writing this.
But this?
(Note: the followings example sentences pertains to the original question)
About John Doe:
He graduated from XXX University. He was going to become an engineer but he changed his mind. He was preparing to write a script for a play. But instead, he took a job as a waiter to meet famous people in the movie industry...
Do you think the underlined parts represent good use of past continuous tenses? I think the first one isn't a past continuous tense but something that expresses his future intention from a past vantage point -- I don't know the name of the tense if you ask me. I think I learned somewhere that a past continuous could be used to describe what happen in a moment of time when a stream of events is (are?) considered like this:
At two thirty, she was sowing a sweater. -- probably used in the context of her continuing to sow and has not stopped sowing at the time of writing this.
But this?
(Note: the followings example sentences pertains to the original question)
About John Doe:
He graduated from XXX University. He was going to become an engineer but he changed his mind. He was preparing to write a script for a play. But instead, he took a job as a waiter to meet famous people in the movie industry...
Top answer
Hi, Do you think the underlined parts represent good use of past continuous tenses? Yes. I think the first one isn't a past continuous tense but something that expresses his future intention from a past vantage point -- I don't know the name of the tense if you ask me.
- Hi, Do you think the underlined parts represent good use of past continuous tenses?
- Yes.
- I think the first one isn't a past continuous tense but something that expresses his future intention from a past vantage point -- I don't know the name of the tense if you ask me.
- ) considered like this: At two thirty, she was s e wing a sweater.
- -- probably used in the context of her continuing to sow and has not stopped sowing at the time of writing this.
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4 Answers
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Hi,
Do you think the underlined parts represent good use of past continuous tenses? Yes. I think the first one isn't a past continuous tense but something that expresses his future intention from a past vantage point -- I don't know the name of the tense if you ask me. I think I learned somewhere that a past continuous could be used to describe what happen in a moment of time when a stre
Do you think the underlined parts represent good use of past continuous tenses? Yes. I think the first one isn't a past continuous tense but something that expresses his future intention from a past vantage point -- I don't know the name of the tense if you ask me. I think I learned somewhere that a past continuous could be used to describe what happen in a moment of time when a stre
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At two thirty, she was sewing a sweater. -- probably used in the context of her continuing to sew (Yes.) and has not stopped sewing at the time of writing this (No. We don't know anything about what she's doing at the time this is reported. We on
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what's the difference between the two sentences?
I WAS WORKING IN A RESTAURANT WHEN I WAS LIVING IN NEW YORK.
I WAS WORKING IN A RESTAURANT WHILE I WAS LIVING IN NEW YORK.
I WAS WORKING IN A RESTAURANT WHEN I WAS LIVING IN NEW YORK.
I WAS WORKING IN A RESTAURANT WHILE I WAS LIVING IN NEW YORK.
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