Our host family didn’t speak to us... - why Past Simple?

[ewa16]

Hello,

there's this sentence:

'Our host family didn’t speak to us in Spanish while we were staying with them.'

and I wonder why is it correct to use Past Simple in the beginning and not Past Continuous? Aren't both of these actions happening at the same time?

Thanks in advance <3

 

[SoothingDave]

They did not speak in the past. The "while we were staying..." clause defines when in the past.

 

[emsr2d2]

Hello, Unnecessary.

there's this I found the following sentence: Missing information. You need to tell us where you found it and who wrote it.

'Our host family didn’t speak to us in Spanish while we were staying with them.'

and I wonder why it is it correct to use the past simple in at the beginning and not the past continuous. Aren't both of these actions happening at the same time?

Thanks in advance Unnecessary. Thank us after we help you, by using the "Thank" icon.

<3 This is meaningless.

Welcome to the forum.

Please note my comments and corrections above. We try to get our users into good habits right from the start - don't bother with greetings like "Hello" at the start of your posts. It wastes time and space. Just ask your question. Don't thank us before we've helped you.

The past simple is correct because the visit has clearly finished. What tense did you think should be used there?

 

[ewa16]

Welcome to the forum.

Please note my comments and corrections above. We try to get our users into good habits right from the start - don't bother with greetings like "Hello" at the start of your posts. It wastes time and space. Just ask your question. Don't thank us before we've helped you.

The past simple is correct because the visit has clearly finished. What tense did you think should be used there?

That sentence is an individual example from an exercise.

While speaking I'd probably use the past simple as it seems fitting, but I am not sure why. It looks to me like both of the actions in the sentence were happening simultaneously, so would it be a complete mistake to use the past continuous? Is there any grammar rule that could explain it?

 

[emsr2d2]

That sentence is an individual example from an exercise.

Is it an exercise from a textbook (or grammar book)?

 

[ewa16]

Is it an exercise from a textbook (or grammar book)?

Yes, from a textbook. There is an explanation on both the past simple and the past continuous and I usually know when to use which, but somehow this sentence isn't completely clear to me.

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes, from a textbook.

In post #3, I asked you to tell us where you found the sentence and who wrote it. Telling us it's from a textbook isn't sufficient. We need the title of the book and the name of the author(s). This is to comply with the strict copyright rules in the UK where the forum is based.

 

[ewa16]

It's 'Gold Experience B2' by Katheryn Alevizos, Suzanne Gaynor and Megan Roderick.

 

[emsr2d2]

Since you're struggling with the original sentence, let's take a couple of other sentences and see if you feel the same about them.

1. I didn't see another person while I was out walking my dog.
2. She didn't drink any water while she was at my house.

 

[ewa16]

Since you're struggling with the original sentence, let's take a couple of other sentences and see if you feel the same about them.

1. I didn't see another person while I was out walking my dog.
2. She didn't drink any water while she was at my house.

Thank you for trying to help, but all these tips I've gotten here so far are not very helpful to me.

I know that we use the past continuous after 'while' and I know that we usually do not change stative verbs into a continuous form, so these two sentences make sense to me, but what I'm struggling with, when it comes to my original question, is understanding why can't we treat these two actions (family not speaking in Spanish and us staying at their house) like something happening at the exact same time? Because, to me, it looks like not speaking in Spanish is something they have been doing during our entire stay.

I'd appreciate an explanation or maybe a grammar rule I could hold on to.

 

[jutfrank]

Your English is high-level, ewa16, so I'm not quite sure what kind of help you need.

It's very common to combine past simple clauses with past continuous ones, where the past simple clause expresses either a single or habitual action in the past.

Because, to me, it looks like not speaking in Spanish is something they have been doing during our entire stay.

Think again about what the sentence means. Don't you think it makes more sense to say that not one single action of speaking in Spanish occurred at any point during the period of the stay?

 

[ewa16]

Your English is high-level, ewa16, so I'm not quite sure what kind of help you need.

It's very common to combine past simple clauses with past continuous ones, where the past simple clause expresses either a single or habitual action in the past.



Think again about what the sentence means. Don't you think it makes more sense to say that not one single of action of speaking in Spanish occurred at any point during the period of the stay?

I've been asked for help with homework and, even though using the past continuous comes quite naturally to me, I wasn't able to simply explain to my sibling why it's the only correct option and I've been giving myself a headache with overthinking this example ever since. I'll give it a go one last time before I confuse all of you and myself even further.

Let's imagine there are gaps to fill in and the sentence looks like this:

'Our host family ___________ (didn't speak/wasn't speaking) to us in Spanish while we ___________ (stayed/were staying) with them.'

How would you explain to someone, who's only starting to learn these tenses, why it is correct to use the past simple first and the past continuous second?

If I'm still not being clear enough with what I'm struggling with then I'll just let it go. All of you are trying your best to help and I greatly appreciate it, but it seems that, as I said before, I keep on overthinking it.

 

[emsr2d2]

I've been asked for help with homework

In that case, we can't help you any further. The forum rules are clear - we don't help with homework or assignments. This is true even if it's via a third party. Your sibling's homework should be done by them - not by you, not by us. How else is their teacher supposed to work out what areas need help?

Thread locked.