[General] The bank closed at 3.30.

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kompstar

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'You were wrong about the time - the bank closed at 3.30"

Is"closed" a Past Simple verb or Past Particilple?
 

Matthew Wai

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The simple past.
 

kompstar

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I see. We don't say like that in Polish we say "the bank was closed at 3.30" or "They closed the bank at 3.30", so I'm wondering if I'd say:

1. You were wrong about the time - the bank was closed at 3.30.

or


2. You were wrong about the time - they closed the bank at 3.30.

Would it be correct and natural?
 

Tarheel

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They are correct, but I'm not so sure about natural. In fact, assuming that both speakers know what they are talking about (which is, of course, usually the case), you're likely to hear: "They closed at 3:30."
 

GoesStation

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I can imagine a conversation like this:

"I cashed your check at the bank at 3:30."
"You couldn't have. The bank was closed at 3:30!"

(In the States we separate hours from minutes with a colon.)
 

Tarheel

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GoesStation illustrated two things.

1. Context is everything.
2. GS has a good imagination.
 
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