[Grammar] were\are given AND was\is given

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Stacy K

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What variant is right? These sentences are given in the topic "The Present Continuous Tense" and i should translate them into English, but I am not sure if I am doing it right, my English is very far from even "good' and i am studying it by myself and have no teacher to ask for help. I hope you will help me.

Here's a sentence:

-You (are\were) constanly given the necessary instructions for conducting the seminar, (aren't\weren't you)?
-No, usually we make independent decisions.


And the second one:

-What actress (is\was) constantly given a bouquets of flowers?

Also i have one more sentence:
"When were the rough copies of your speech written"?
And i am 99% sure that "were" is used right. Using ARE would be a mistake. (When the rough copies of your speech are written?)

SO please help me. I will be VERY grateful!
 

sammyman2

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Stacy...."The Present Continuous Tense" for the first sentence would be "are" and "aren't".

The second sentence would be, "What actress "is" constantly given a bouquet of flowers?"



Your third answer, if you are still dealing with "The Present Continuous Tense", would be "are".
 
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emsr2d2

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Your clue is in the name of the tense: Present Continuous.

I'm sure that you know that the present tense of "to be" goes:

I am
You are
He/she is
We are
You are
They are

On that basis, in the present continuous, one of those forms must appear.

I am doing :tick:
I was doing :cross:

We are eating :tick:
We were eating :cross:

"When were the rough copies of your speech written?" does not use the continuous at all.
 
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