My "good" English · 5:36pm Apr 8th, 2019
Привет всем! ... Again, it was "Hello Everyone!" on Russian. I did geometry today. And suddenly I thought: "How do I read in English? Good or bad?" Yes, the thought came to me during geometry. Very timely, isn't it? I started reading an English textbook - I realized that I do not know English at all. Imagine: English, which is trying to speak by Russian. A terrible sight, I want to say. Damn me! Okay, I'll try to do something. I hope something happens.
By the way, can someone explain to me something please? When should I use Past Continuous, and when should I use Past Perfect? I can't figure it out. I know I'm a strange person, but I really want to know this, especially from those who understand English better than me, because they speak it.
Спасибо за внимание .... And it was "thank you for your attention".
Well, I'm very good at English but even I can't really explain. But, 'past continuous' describes actions or events that begin in the past and still continue while you speak. In other words, it expresses an unfinished or incomplete action in the past. past perfect refers to an act that took place before another act in the past. It is not important for the sentence, which event is mentioned first, through the time form reveals what happened first.
5041022
I think, I understood. Thank you so much. And if the result of an action or event is shown, I should use "past perfect ", right?
5041031
Yes, I think so.
5041032
Okay. Thanks again :)
5041033
You're welcome!
5041022
Dude, I am no teacher, but I know for certain, a Continuous tense is for ongoing processes, which take place at one specific time, so Past Continuous is to describe something ongoing that was ongoing in past, but is most likely not ongoing in present any more. Point in case: "I was typing" means, in present I state, that in past there was a timespan, when I was typing, and my typing never was interrupted (when it is, the continuous process ceases). "Was typing" never states anything about present.
Your Past Perfect explanation seems legitimate, though
. The key word would be "by the time": "they didn't know where it had come from" means, "they" didn't know its origin in the past, and by the time they didn't "it" had already come from some mysterious place. I. e., first "it" comes, then "they" don't know where from. On the other hand, "they didn't know where it came from" means, "it" hadn't come before "they" didn't know where from, rather "it" came at the same time "they" didn't, and, as "it" came, they wondered where from, but didn't know. Both happened simultaneously.
5063581
Uh-huh.
5063581
thanks :)
5065421
!
Not at all