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Confused between past simple and past continious
The 2019 Stack Overflow Developer Survey Results Are InHow to join past continous and past simple with “but”?Past Simple vs Past Continuous (with for/because)Past Simple and Past PerfectDifference between “he kissed me” and “he had kissed me”Understanding past perfect and past simple tense(did not listen) vs (was not listening) (past simple vs past continuous)Past simple vs used to vs wouldThe necessity of past perfectUsed to or past simple with the adverb 'When'Correct tense for two events/actions in context
.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty margin-bottom:0;
The situation is that I am talking to some friends about an event that happened earlier:
When I was packing my clothes my dog was watching me.
When I was packing my clothes my dog watched me.
When I was packing my clothes my dog sat down and watched me.
When I was packing my clothes my dog sat down and was watching me.
Which of these sentences are correct please? I know when to use the continious tense in simple sentences, but when there is broader background I get confused.
past-tense
asked 5 hours ago
Fox12Fox12
163
migrated from english.stackexchange.com 5 hours ago
This question came from our site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts.
add a comment |
The situation is that I am talking to some friends about an event that happened earlier:
When I was packing my clothes my dog was watching me.
When I was packing my clothes my dog watched me.
When I was packing my clothes my dog sat down and watched me.
When I was packing my clothes my dog sat down and was watching me.
Which of these sentences are correct please? I know when to use the continious tense in simple sentences, but when there is broader background I get confused.
past-tense
asked 5 hours ago
Fox12Fox12
163
migrated from english.stackexchange.com 5 hours ago
This question came from our site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts.
add a comment |
The situation is that I am talking to some friends about an event that happened earlier:
When I was packing my clothes my dog was watching me.
When I was packing my clothes my dog watched me.
When I was packing my clothes my dog sat down and watched me.
When I was packing my clothes my dog sat down and was watching me.
Which of these sentences are correct please? I know when to use the continious tense in simple sentences, but when there is broader background I get confused.
past-tense
asked 5 hours ago
Fox12Fox12
163
The situation is that I am talking to some friends about an event that happened earlier:
When I was packing my clothes my dog was watching me.
When I was packing my clothes my dog watched me.
When I was packing my clothes my dog sat down and watched me.
When I was packing my clothes my dog sat down and was watching me.
Which of these sentences are correct please? I know when to use the continious tense in simple sentences, but when there is broader background I get confused.
past-tense
past-tense
asked 5 hours ago
Fox12Fox12
163
asked 5 hours ago
Fox12Fox12
163
asked 5 hours ago
Fox12Fox12
163
asked 5 hours ago
Fox12Fox12
163
asked 5 hours ago
Fox12Fox12
163
163
migrated from english.stackexchange.com 5 hours ago
This question came from our site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts.
migrated from english.stackexchange.com 5 hours ago
This question came from our site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts.
add a comment |
add a comment |
1 Answer
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All of your sentences are fine, with the exception of the fourth one. The past continuous is used for events that have a long duration. If you say "When (first past continuous clause) (second clause)" (at least in any of these examples), the second clause would have happened sometime during the period of time when the first clause happened.
If you say your dog watched you, you probably mean that your dog watched you for a long time. So either "my dog watched me" or "my dog was watching me" is fine. The implied meaning in either case is that your dog watched you the entire time you were packing.
"When I was packing my clothes my dog sat down" - this is fine, because it means your dog sat down at some point while you were packing your clothes.
If you were to say "When I was packing my clothes my dog was sitting down" that would sound weird, because "to sit down" is usually an instantaneous action. It is not something that takes a long time in general. The implication here is that your dog performed the action of sitting down the whole time you were packing your clothes. Since you were packing your clothes for a while, this doesn't make a lot of sense. (I know this is not one of your sentences, but I thought this should be pointed out.)
"My dog sat down and was watching me" sounds weird. When you say "X (1st past tense action) and (2nd past tense action)" the tenses should match. But you could get away with saying "My dog sat down and started watching me". This would be fine, because "sat down" and "started" are both in the simple past tense. "Was" is part of the progressive form of the verb that follows, so it doesn't work in that case.
answered 5 hours ago
MixolydianMixolydian
5,476715
add a comment |
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All of your sentences are fine, with the exception of the fourth one. The past continuous is used for events that have a long duration. If you say "When (first past continuous clause) (second clause)" (at least in any of these examples), the second clause would have happened sometime during the period of time when the first clause happened.
If you say your dog watched you, you probably mean that your dog watched you for a long time. So either "my dog watched me" or "my dog was watching me" is fine. The implied meaning in either case is that your dog watched you the entire time you were packing.
"When I was packing my clothes my dog sat down" - this is fine, because it means your dog sat down at some point while you were packing your clothes.
If you were to say "When I was packing my clothes my dog was sitting down" that would sound weird, because "to sit down" is usually an instantaneous action. It is not something that takes a long time in general. The implication here is that your dog performed the action of sitting down the whole time you were packing your clothes. Since you were packing your clothes for a while, this doesn't make a lot of sense. (I know this is not one of your sentences, but I thought this should be pointed out.)
"My dog sat down and was watching me" sounds weird. When you say "X (1st past tense action) and (2nd past tense action)" the tenses should match. But you could get away with saying "My dog sat down and started watching me". This would be fine, because "sat down" and "started" are both in the simple past tense. "Was" is part of the progressive form of the verb that follows, so it doesn't work in that case.
answered 5 hours ago
MixolydianMixolydian
5,476715
add a comment |
All of your sentences are fine, with the exception of the fourth one. The past continuous is used for events that have a long duration. If you say "When (first past continuous clause) (second clause)" (at least in any of these examples), the second clause would have happened sometime during the period of time when the first clause happened.
If you say your dog watched you, you probably mean that your dog watched you for a long time. So either "my dog watched me" or "my dog was watching me" is fine. The implied meaning in either case is that your dog watched you the entire time you were packing.
"When I was packing my clothes my dog sat down" - this is fine, because it means your dog sat down at some point while you were packing your clothes.
If you were to say "When I was packing my clothes my dog was sitting down" that would sound weird, because "to sit down" is usually an instantaneous action. It is not something that takes a long time in general. The implication here is that your dog performed the action of sitting down the whole time you were packing your clothes. Since you were packing your clothes for a while, this doesn't make a lot of sense. (I know this is not one of your sentences, but I thought this should be pointed out.)
"My dog sat down and was watching me" sounds weird. When you say "X (1st past tense action) and (2nd past tense action)" the tenses should match. But you could get away with saying "My dog sat down and started watching me". This would be fine, because "sat down" and "started" are both in the simple past tense. "Was" is part of the progressive form of the verb that follows, so it doesn't work in that case.
answered 5 hours ago
MixolydianMixolydian
5,476715
add a comment |
All of your sentences are fine, with the exception of the fourth one. The past continuous is used for events that have a long duration. If you say "When (first past continuous clause) (second clause)" (at least in any of these examples), the second clause would have happened sometime during the period of time when the first clause happened.
If you say your dog watched you, you probably mean that your dog watched you for a long time. So either "my dog watched me" or "my dog was watching me" is fine. The implied meaning in either case is that your dog watched you the entire time you were packing.
"When I was packing my clothes my dog sat down" - this is fine, because it means your dog sat down at some point while you were packing your clothes.
If you were to say "When I was packing my clothes my dog was sitting down" that would sound weird, because "to sit down" is usually an instantaneous action. It is not something that takes a long time in general. The implication here is that your dog performed the action of sitting down the whole time you were packing your clothes. Since you were packing your clothes for a while, this doesn't make a lot of sense. (I know this is not one of your sentences, but I thought this should be pointed out.)
"My dog sat down and was watching me" sounds weird. When you say "X (1st past tense action) and (2nd past tense action)" the tenses should match. But you could get away with saying "My dog sat down and started watching me". This would be fine, because "sat down" and "started" are both in the simple past tense. "Was" is part of the progressive form of the verb that follows, so it doesn't work in that case.
answered 5 hours ago
MixolydianMixolydian
5,476715
All of your sentences are fine, with the exception of the fourth one. The past continuous is used for events that have a long duration. If you say "When (first past continuous clause) (second clause)" (at least in any of these examples), the second clause would have happened sometime during the period of time when the first clause happened.
If you say your dog watched you, you probably mean that your dog watched you for a long time. So either "my dog watched me" or "my dog was watching me" is fine. The implied meaning in either case is that your dog watched you the entire time you were packing.
"When I was packing my clothes my dog sat down" - this is fine, because it means your dog sat down at some point while you were packing your clothes.
If you were to say "When I was packing my clothes my dog was sitting down" that would sound weird, because "to sit down" is usually an instantaneous action. It is not something that takes a long time in general. The implication here is that your dog performed the action of sitting down the whole time you were packing your clothes. Since you were packing your clothes for a while, this doesn't make a lot of sense. (I know this is not one of your sentences, but I thought this should be pointed out.)
"My dog sat down and was watching me" sounds weird. When you say "X (1st past tense action) and (2nd past tense action)" the tenses should match. But you could get away with saying "My dog sat down and started watching me". This would be fine, because "sat down" and "started" are both in the simple past tense. "Was" is part of the progressive form of the verb that follows, so it doesn't work in that case.
answered 5 hours ago
MixolydianMixolydian
5,476715
answered 5 hours ago
MixolydianMixolydian
5,476715
answered 5 hours ago
MixolydianMixolydian
5,476715
answered 5 hours ago
MixolydianMixolydian
5,476715
5,476715
add a comment |
add a comment |
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