I was being told VS i was told

[Polyester]

I was being told.
I was told.
What is the difference between these two sentences?

 

[emsr2d2]

They would both only be a complete grammatical sentence if we had some context. Please give us some surrounding sentences and context. As they stand, all I can say is that they use different tenses.

 

[AussieLexie]

I was being told.
I was told.
What is the difference between these two sentences?

#1 is past continuous passive
#2 is past simple passive
Past continuous can be used as an alternative to the simple past.

Example:

Joe: “The boss suggested my time could be better spent on other projects. I knew what he meant. I was being told not to pursue the investigation.”

However, if the boss had given Joe a direct order, he would have used the simple past.

Joe: “I was told not to pursue the investigation.”


(emsr is correct; context would be helpful.)

 

[Polyester]

I was being told not do following my boss instruction, if he passed the work to me.

I was told fired by my boss.

Is it okay to help me again?

 

[emsr2d2]

1. I was being told not do following my boss instruction, if he passed the work to me.
2. I was told fired by my boss.

Is it okay to help me again?

I can't understand sentence 1 at all. Sentence 2 should be "I was told I was fired by my boss" or, better, "My boss told me I was fired". That is if, of course, you mean "My boss fired me".

 

[Polyester]

Can you try to give me any context?
Because i dont know the " i was being"....

 

[Polyester]

It was very busy in our restaurant. Too many customers asked for the food. But, I was being to take the order very slow.

Is it okay?

 

[GoesStation]

It was very busy in our restaurant. Too many customers asked for the food. But, I was being to take the order very slow.

Is it okay?

Sorry, no. Post #3 gives an example of a natural use of the past continuous passive. It's a tense that isn't used very often, so you won't miss much if you forget about it for a while and study other aspects of English.

 

[Polyester]

Do you mean i should give this part of English? Try another part of English because this part is not using very often...

 

[GoesStation]

I was being told is an example of the past continuous passive. This form is not used often. You will be able to understand almost anything in English even if you don't learn it.

I was told is in the past simple passive. You will see this form fairly often, so you will understand English better if you learn it.

 

[emsr2d2]

Can you try to give me any context (no question mark here) because I don't [STRIKE]know the[/STRIKE] understand "I was being"?

It was very busy in our restaurant. Too many customers asked for [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] food (no full stop here) [STRIKE]But,[/STRIKE] and I was [STRIKE]being to[/STRIKE] taking [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] their orders very slowly.

Is it okay?

Do you mean I should give up on this part of English? Do you mean that I should try another part of English because this part is not [STRIKE]using[/STRIKE] used very often?

Note my corrections above. I am sure you have been using the forum for long enough to know that you must capitalise the word "I" every time you write it.

I would say it's important for you to know, recognise and use the past continuous tenses because we use them a lot. However, the use of "I was being" is probably a little less common than many other verbs so concentrate on regular verbs first. You'll need them for things like:

What were you doing yesterday?
I was playing my guitar.

Where was he going?
He was going to the cinema.

What was she wearing when you saw her?
She was wearing red jeans, a black jumper and Doc Martens.

I can imagine you will see, hear and use things like that fairly regularly so I think they are important. You are less likely, until you're a more advanced learner, to need things like "I was just being silly" or "She was being naughty".

 

[teechar]

They would both only be a complete grammatical sentence

Perhaps I'm being pedantic, but I would use "complete grammatical sentences" instead of "a complete grammatical sentence" in the above.

 

[emsr2d2]

I agree! I think I changed tack after the first few words and continued as if I had written "Each one would only be ...".