I was visiting/I visited

[ROFTOK]

1 Last week, I was visiting a concert. It was great.
2 Last week, I visited a concert. It was great.

Do you agree that 1 sounds as if the person spent the whole week visited the concert.

But what if I want to say that I met someone while visiting the concert?

3 Last week, I was visiting a concert and met Michael.

How does 3 sound? Does it sound as if I spent the whole week visiting the concert or as it was a one-off occasion during last week?

 

[Tarheel]

Perhaps:

Last week I went to a Metallica concert.

I don't think I've ever seen "visit" and "concert" in the same sentence before.

 

[teechar]

1 Last week, I was visiting a concert. It was great.
2 Last week, I visited a concert. It was great.

No. Use "went to" or "attended" instead of "visited". The past continuous is not justified there.

Do you agree that 1 sounds as if the person spent the whole week visited the concert.

No. See above.

But what if I want to say that I met someone while visiting the concert?

Say, for example, "I met Lesley at the Barry Manilow concert last week".

3 Last week, I was visiting a concert and met Michael.

No. See above.

 

[ROFTOK]

“First girl went missing a little over nine weeks ago after she visited a concert.”

"21 % of the population had visited a concert during the past six months , and nearly half of the residents had attended some form of light entertainment"

But if you don't like the word "concert" let's switch to "festival".

Let me ask one more time

1 Last week, I was visiting a festival. It was great.
2 Last week, I visited a festival. It was great.

Do you agree that 1 sounds as if the person spent the whole week visitING the festival.

But what if I want to say that I met someone while visiting the festival?

3 Last week, I was visiting a festival and met Michael.

How does 3 sound? Does it sound as if I spent the whole week visiting the festival or as it was a one-off occasion during last week?

 

[Tarheel]

"Last week I visited a festival. It was great."

I would use that one. Except, of course, I wouldn't. Instead, I would say went to the festival or that I attended the festival.

Perhaps:

Last week I saw Michael at the festival.

 

[5jj]

“First girl went missing a little over nine weeks ago after she visited a concert.”
"21 % of the population had visited a concert during the past six months , and nearly half of the residents had attended some form of light entertainment"

If those are quotes you have found online, please give us the sources.

You may well find that a small number of people have 'visited' a concert. Most of us 'go to' or 'attend' one, as teechar told you.

 

[ROFTOK]

"Last week I visited a festival. It was great."

I would use that one. Except, of course, I wouldn't. Instead, I would say went to the festival or that I attended the festival.

Perhaps:

Last week I saw Michael at the festival.

What is the reason for not using "Last week, I was visiting a festival". Can it mean that I visited the festival all week, every day?

 

[ROFTOK]

If those are quotes you have found online, please give us the sources.

Cowboy Bikers MC Lawmen: Sweet Treat​

books.google.com › books
Esther E. Schmidt, ‎Addy Archer · 2022

Asian Music: Journal of the Society for Asian Music​

books.google.com › books
1986

 

[5jj]

1 Last week, I was visiting a festival. It was great.
2 Last week, I visited a festival. It was great.

Do you agree that 1 sounds as if the person spent the whole week visitING the festival.

No. You are still trying to attribute too much meaning to a tense or aspect, If I wished to make it clear that I spent a whole week at the festifal, I'd say "I spent last week at a festival" or "I was at X Festival for the whole week:.

3 Last week, I was visiting a festival and met Michael.

How does 3 sound? Does it sound as if I spent the whole week visiting the festival or as it was a one-off occasion during last week?

We don't know.

 

[Tarheel]

What is the reason for not using "Last week, I was visiting a festival". Can it mean that I visited the festival all week, every day?

What's the reason I don't say that? Probably because it would never occur to me to do so.

We don't know if you were there every day of the week unless you say so.

 

[ROFTOK]

What's the reason I don't say that? Probably because it would never occur to me to do so.

Doesn't sound to me like an explanation based on a grammar insight.

But do you admit that:
Last month we lived in the country. - We might live the whole of last month or only a part.
Last month we living in the country. - We lived all last month.

 

[ROFTOK]

If those are quotes you have found online, please give us the sources.

You may well find that a small number of people have 'visited' a concert. Most of us 'go to' or 'attend' one, as teechar told you.

What is teechar?

 

[Rover_KE]

What Who is teechar?

teechar is the moderator who replied to your thread in post #3.

 

[5jj]

Doesn't sound to me like an explanation based on a grammar insight.

Many native speakers respond here on the basis of how things strike them personally. This is perfectly valid.

But do you admit that:
Last month we lived in the country. - We might live the whole of last month or only a part.

Probably

Last month we living in the country. - We lived all last month.

Not necessarily. (I take it you meant to write 'we were living'.)

 

[ROFTOK]

Many native speakers respond here on the basis of how things strike them personally. This is perfectly valid.

I wonder why grammarians systemize things... I don't advocate "anything goes" approach including myself when I am asked, but not in this forum.
So,
Last month we lived in the country. - We might live the whole of last month or only a part.
Last month we were living in the country. - We might live the whole of last month or only a part.

 

[5jj]

Last month we lived in the country. - We might live the whole of last month or only a part.
Last month we were living in the country. - We might live the whole of last month or only a part.

This is because the tense/aspect system in English has usually nothing to do with whether something has taken up the whole of a period of time.

 

[emsr2d2]

Part of what you're missing is that we give extra information if it's required. If I said "I went to a music festival last weekend", I would expect the listener to assume that I attended the entire thing - two full days and probably camping there on the Saturday night. If that's what I actually did, that's all I would need to say. If that wasn't the case, it would be up to me to explain further "I went to one day of a music festival last weekend. I was working on Sunday so I could only go on the Saturday", or "I went to a music festival last weekend but I decided to come home to sleep on the Saturday night. I'm too old for camping out. The bands were great on both days though, and I'm planning to go next year".

The simple answer to your first question in post #1 is no, it doesn't sound like someone "spent the whole week visiting a concert". For a start, that's not logical. Secondly, no native speaker would say "Last week, I was visiting a concert". (To be clear, they also wouldn't say "Last week, I was attending a concert" or "Last week, I was going to a concert".)

Are you really spending hours (days?) at the moment just studying and trying to learn the use of the simple past and the past continuous? I'm not sure it's a good use of your time. It's something that comes naturally to native speakers through years of experience. I think you'd be better off reading well-written English texts, listening to talk radio in English, and watching high quality TV and films in English. You'll get a much better grasp of how we use the language by those methods than by providing us with random standalone sentences with no context.

 

[ROFTOK]

This is because the tense/aspect system in English has usually nothing to do with whether something has taken up the whole of a period of time.

If I say:
I was visiting them yesterday evening. - it is more certain to mean the whole evening.
I visited them yesterday evening. - it is more certain not to mean the whole evening.

Plus this interpretation is not mine. It's by another native's

Last month we lived in the country. - We might live the whole of last month or only a part.
Last month we were living in the country. - We lived all last month.

They may overlap, but the tendency is still there. Do you disagree?

 

[5jj]

I am not going to engage in any more pointless discussion of this.

 

[ROFTOK]

The simple answer to your first question in post #1 is no, it doesn't sound like someone "spent the whole week visiting a concert". For a start, that's not logical.

Did I say it was? I was asking about the potential meanings it has.

Secondly, no native speaker would say "Last week, I was visiting a concert". (To be clear, they also wouldn't say "Last week, I was attending a concert" or "Last week, I was going to a concert".)

So, I just need to know what a native speaker would or wouldn't say... it's easy... But wait. If I knew it, why would I ask you?

Are you really spending hours (days?) at the moment just studying and trying to learn the use of the simple past and the past continuous? I'm not sure it's a good use of your time.

You have no grounds to worry about the way I spend my time, but thank you for your concern.

It's something that comes naturally to native speakers through years of experience. I think you'd be better off reading well-written English texts, listening to talk radio in English, and watching high quality TV and films in English. You'll get a much better grasp of how we use the language by those methods than by providing us with random standalone sentences with no context.

Who told you that I don't do it? These are different activities and one doesn't preclude the other.