Gabriel
Doubts Hi ! 1- Shoud I say "doubts"? I have a doubt? 2.- This is a text that i'm using to study: Past Continuous: Use the Past Continuous to indicate that a longer action in the past was interrupted. The interruption is usually a shorter action in the Simple Past. Remember this can be a real interruption or just an interruption in time. Here's my question: could I express (with Past Continuous) an interrumped long action, And, an interrumped short action too? I was jumping across the (???) when the ball kicked my head We were conquering every corner of Looland for 10 years, then, an atomic bomb explodes near of us. We were conquering every corner of Looland for 2 months, then, a bomb explodes in our ship ---- These examples may not be the most serious but..haha no se me ocurrió otra cosa (I don't know how to say that in English) Thanks!!
Sep 22, 2014 11:11 PM
Answers · 4
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1) DOUBTS When you say in Spanish "tengo una duda," the equivalent in English (American English is what I know) is "I have a question." 2) Here's my question: could I express (with Past Continuous) an interrumped long action, And, an interrumped short action too? CAN I EXPRESS (WITH PAST CONTINUOUS) AN INTERRUPTED LONG ACTION AND AN INTERRUPTED SHORT ACTION TOO? YES, YOU CAN. I was jumping across the (???) when the ball kicked my head I WAS JUMPING ACROSS THE (??? FIELD ???) WHEN THE BALL HIT MY HEAD. We were conquering every corner of Looland for 10 years, then, an atomic bomb explodes near of us. WE WERE CONQUERING EVERY CORNER OF LOOLAND FOR 10 YEARS, AND THEN AN ATOMIC BOMB EXPLODED (pasado) NEAR US. We were conquering every corner of Looland for 2 months, then, a bomb explodes in our ship WE WERE CONQUERING EVERY CORNER OF LOOLAND FOR 2 MONTHS, AND THEN A BOMB EXPLODED (pasado - explodED). ---- These examples may not be the most serious but..haha no se me ocurrió otra cosa (I don't know how to say that in English) no se me ocurrió otra cosa - NOTHING ELSE OCCURRED TO ME Good job! Interesting questions too.
September 23, 2014
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Yes, absolutely you can express this with past continuous. Your usage is perfectly correct. I love your examples! A couple of pointers on what you've written. I think either doubt or doubts is fine. I have doubts (or 'some doubts) is probably slightly more usual than I have a doubt. But, doubt in English is used more in the sense of possible objection - eg 'She said it's real gold, but I have some doubts about that'. Or, "it's a good suggestion, but let's clear up these doubts first' rather than just as a question. Here your use of doubts is fine but to be most idiomatic, I'd say 'I have questions'. "Interrupted" doesn't have an 'm' :-) "We were conquering every corner of Looland for 10 years, then, an atomic bomb explodes near of us." - you don't use 'of' after near - it's just "near us", or less commonly 'near to us'. I was jumping across the (???) when the ball kicked my head - Kicking is reserved for feet. so, 'he kicked the ball at my head' but 'the ball hit my head' (ie the ball itself is not doing the kicking).
September 22, 2014
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