Make tenses reflect meaning-MGMAT SC

[dddanny2006]

Hey there,

Past Progressive-A lot has been spoken about Present Progressive,but nothing much has been spoken about Past Progressive.

Past Progressive: Sandy was playing Soccer yesterday.

Can you'll please tell me what the above means?

In case of Past Progressive:Sandy is playing soccer.The present progressive indicates action happening right now,but whats not clear is what does the Past Progessive indicate?Yes I understand,that it happened in the past,but what does the to be verb+ '-ing' do to it additionally?Does it give it a time frame or something similar?Please clarify.

She was playing with her friends when the baby sitter arrived.

Whats the sequence of action in this?Did she just start playing,or was she already playing and continued on,or was it that she was already playing but stopped when the baby sitter arrived?What does the Past Progressive do here?

Now lets look at this one,both actions are in simple past here
She played with her friends when the baby sitter arrived.

According to Manhattan, in the above sentence the action played takes place after the babysitter arrived.How can we know this for sure?

Please explain the 'Past progressive' and 'when' concept.

Also please explain the difference between simple past and past progressive.I want to understand how they're different including the extended time frame the latter conveys.

Thanks a lot.

Dan

[jlucero]

Hey there,

Past Progressive-A lot has been spoken about Present Progressive,but nothing much has been spoken about Past Progressive.

Past Progressive: Sandy was playing Soccer yesterday.

Can you'll please tell me what the above means?

In case of Past Progressive:Sandy is playing soccer.The present progressive indicates action happening right now,but whats not clear is what does the Past Progessive indicate?Yes I understand,that it happened in the past,but what does the to be verb+ '-ing' do to it additionally?Does it give it a time frame or something similar?Please clarify.

She was playing with her friends when the baby sitter arrived.

Whats the sequence of action in this?Did she just start playing,or was she already playing and continued on,or was it that she was already playing but stopped when the baby sitter arrived?What does the Past Progressive do here?

Now lets look at this one,both actions are in simple past here
She played with her friends when the baby sitter arrived.

According to Manhattan, in the above sentence the action played takes place after the babysitter arrived.How can we know this for sure?

Please explain the 'Past progressive' and 'when' concept.

Also please explain the difference between simple past and past progressive.I want to understand how they're different including the extended time frame the latter conveys.

Thanks a lot.

Dan

First, I think this site does a great job of explaining the past progressive as well as the difference between the simple past and the past progressive:

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/ ... essive.htm

And here's the example they use:

The past progressive indicates a limited duration of time and is thus a convenient way to indicate that something took place (in the simple past) while something else was happening. The past progressive can express incomplete action, as opposed to the simple past, which suggests a completed action:

Carlos lost his watch while he was running.

That hopefully makes the babysitter problem easier to understand:

She was playing with her friends when the baby sitter arrived.

The arrival of a baby sitter was a completed action. But it happened throughout a time while another event continued:

Playing with friends- 5-8pm
Arrival of babysitter- 6:15pm

If instead you said, she played with her friends when the baby sitter arrived, the events didn't overlap:

Arrival of babysitter- 6:15pm
Played with her friends- 6:15-8pm