when was done

[ostap77]

"When the surgeon was done operating, the police came to take him into custody."
Would it be grammatically correct?

[Afit]

Yes. "operating" is an adverbial participle. Choice of tense in the sentence is fine.

[ostap77]

Yes. "operating" is an adverbial participle. Choice of tense in the sentence is fine.

I could have said "When I was done talking on the phone, they came over for dinner.'' and it would have been correst, right?

[Afit]

I could have said "When I was done talking on the phone, they came over for dinner.'' and it would have been correst, right?

No offence, but I can't see the logical cohesion between the previous part of this thread and this question. Nevertheless,

When I was done talking on the phone, they came over for dinner.

is .

[ostap77]

No offence, but I can't see the logical cohesion between the previous part of this thread and this question. Nevertheless,

When I was done talking on the phone, they came over for dinner.

is .

No hard feelings taken. The thing is that I took a writing test and used the sentence from post # 1.My Ukrainian teacher checked it off as incorrect.

[bhaisahab]

No hard feelings taken. The thing is that I took a writing test and used the sentence from post # 1.My Ukrainian teacher checked it off as incorrect.

It's non standard English (chiefly American). In a classroom situation you should use "had finished" not "was done"

[ostap77]

It's non standard English (chiefly American). In a classroom situation you should use "had finished" not "was done"

Does "nonstandardness" refer to the use of "to be done doing something" in the past?
How about President of the United States using it in one of his speeches "We are done fighting in Iraq"?

[Afit]

It's non standard English (chiefly American). In a classroom situation you should use "had finished" not "was done"

I hear this construction from educated native individuals. If they can afford to use their own mother tongue like this, why can't we, non-native students?

[Afit]

Does "nonstandardness" refer to the use of "to be done doing something" in the past?
How about President of the United States using it in one of his speeches "We are done fighting in Iraq"?

No."to be done" to mean "to be finished" is no go in formal English.

[ostap77]

No."to be done" to mean "to be finished" is no go in formal English.

" The formal change in mission doesn't mean the 50,000 U.S. soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen in Iraq are done fighting insurgents of one stripe or another."

Would this be informal English?