Verona_82
Senior Member
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2010
- Member Type
- Other
- Native Language
- Russian
- Home Country
- Russian Federation
- Current Location
- Ukraine
Hello,
The book I'm using insists on choosing between the simple and continuous tenses, saying that only one of them is possible. However, I believe both alternatives work (if proper context is given). I'd be very grateful if somebody could take a look at the sentences and my comments in brackets and comment.
1. Last week I studied Chinese (Studying Chinese is my hobby. Last week I had some free time, so I opened the coursebook, read some rules, did some exercises and closed the book. That was a finished act of studying)
Last week I was studying Chinese (imagine me reading grammar books and doing exercises)
2. I learned these words but I remember only a small part of the list (it seemed to me I learned all of them but now I see I should have learned them better)
I was learning these words but I remember only a small part of the list (imagine me doing word usage exercises. Now I see they didn't help me memorize the words)
3. Last month he worked on his new detective novel (he started and finished working last month, and he managed to complete the novel in a month)
Last month he was working on his new detective novel (he's writing a novel, and he spent last month working on it. He didn't finish it last month)
Thank you!
The book I'm using insists on choosing between the simple and continuous tenses, saying that only one of them is possible. However, I believe both alternatives work (if proper context is given). I'd be very grateful if somebody could take a look at the sentences and my comments in brackets and comment.
1. Last week I studied Chinese (Studying Chinese is my hobby. Last week I had some free time, so I opened the coursebook, read some rules, did some exercises and closed the book. That was a finished act of studying)
Last week I was studying Chinese (imagine me reading grammar books and doing exercises)
2. I learned these words but I remember only a small part of the list (it seemed to me I learned all of them but now I see I should have learned them better)
I was learning these words but I remember only a small part of the list (imagine me doing word usage exercises. Now I see they didn't help me memorize the words)
3. Last month he worked on his new detective novel (he started and finished working last month, and he managed to complete the novel in a month)
Last month he was working on his new detective novel (he's writing a novel, and he spent last month working on it. He didn't finish it last month)
Thank you!