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ESL forum >
Ask for help > Help with the past continuous
Help with the past continuous
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gordana44
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Help with the past continuous
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Could anyone please help me. Which sentence is correct?
1. I suddenly noticed that everyone in the race was having the same face, even my friends or 2. I suddenly noticed that everyone in the race had the same face, even my friends.
Thanks for your help.
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13 Jun 2011
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yanogator
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Remember that continuous tenses emphasize the time involved and activity; the simple tenses emphasize the result. Since your example doesn �t really want to emphasize that their faces were the same throughout the race, but rather at the one time you looked, you want "had".
I noticed that everyone had the same face.
I noticed that John was having trouble breathing during the race. (emphasis on having trouble over time, not just at one moment)
Bruce |
13 Jun 2011
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aliciapc
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Also, to add to Bruce �s , the past is called "continuous" because it is used for an action that continued in the past, that wasn �t over, as with past simple. |
13 Jun 2011
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Albanta3011
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On top of that, "have" is usually not used in continuous tense. There are accepted statements such as: I �m having breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Also you can say I �m having a lot of problems.
But either you have a car or do not. "You are having a car" does not sound well.
I hope this helps.
Thank you,
Gerardo |
13 Jun 2011
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Minka
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If it is about a strange dream and they actually had the same face, I would efinitely use HAD. If it is about a facial expression, could you use make instead? They were making faces? And the same ones?
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13 Jun 2011
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aliciapc
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What Gerardo says has to do with stative and dynamic meanings of "have" . @ gordana : in your sentences you used "have" with a stative meaning, that �s why it can �t take -ing . |
13 Jun 2011
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