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Ask for help > Please, help!
Please, help!
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savvinka
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Please, help!
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Dear collegues,
Say, I �m asked to compose a sentence, starting with "For an hour before I saw him,..." What tense shall I use. I �m confused myself and want your respectful opinions. Thank you!!!
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24 Feb 2010
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Mr. Ammarell
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For an hour befor I saw him, I nervously tapped a pencil.
For an hour before I saw him, I thought about what I would say.
This is an example of an inroductory clause that shows anticipation. THe sentence that follows should show what a person was doing during that hour.
I hope I helped.
Mr. Ammarell |
24 Feb 2010
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priorita
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Mr. Ammarel,
you wrote "a person was doing during that hour", but the tense you used in sentences was past simple. I want to clarify this for myself - which tense?
thank you |
24 Feb 2010
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savvinka
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Thanks, Mr Ammarel, I could also see a contradiction in yr reply. I tapped or I was tapping?
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24 Feb 2010
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eng789
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I think that Past Progressive/continuous is needed in the sentence.
so
For an hour before I saw him, I was thinking about how he might have changed.
I was thinking about how he might have changed, for an hour before I saw him.
I�m not 100% sure that this is correct because I would never say - for an hour before....... |
24 Feb 2010
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Zora
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I agree with Barb in that "For an hour before..." is a quite a strange construction and I �d never use it either.
Maybe... a comma is needed here?
For an hour, before I saw him, I was thinking about how he might have changed.
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24 Feb 2010
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aliciapc
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For an hour, before I saw him, I had been thinking about how he might have changed.
It sounds better to me, just a thought... |
25 Feb 2010
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darryl_cameron
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It would be better if you could make your question a bit clearer.
Well I hope I can help though ...
"For an hour before I saw him" is definately Past Perfect Continuous
We use Past Perfect Continuous to show that something started in the past and continued up until another time in the past
If you do not include a duration such as "for five minutes," "for an hour" or "since Friday," many English speakers choose to use the Past Continuous rather than the Past Perfect Continuous.
Be careful because this can change the meaning of the sentence. Past Continuous emphasizes interrupted actions, whereas Past Perfect Continuous emphasizes a duration of time before something in the past.
( from englishpage.com)
So your question is if the REST of the sentence should be in this form???
well, you can finish with simple past because that �simply � describes the action within the hour.
Here is an example of how I would use the example.
"For an hour before I met him, I didnt know what to say. But when I saw his face I immediately put my nerves aside and began talking."
So, you see it must be part of a contradictory word or phrase ("but")
Thanks for your tricky question  |
25 Feb 2010
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savvinka
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Thanks to everyone, Now I understand how it could be. Yes, it �s a very complicated construction, I met it in a Russian workbook written by a very respected English professor, I �m thinking about a new ws now and wanted to include it in the ex, but now I won �t , I prefer to explain basic grammar better so sts could easily understand the main rules. |
25 Feb 2010
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