J joham Key Member Joined Oct 30, 2007 Member Type Student or Learner Native Language Chinese Home Country China Current Location China Jun 8, 2022 #1 It began to rain/began raining when we got home. Do both 'to rain' and 'raining' work as well for the sentence, please?
It began to rain/began raining when we got home. Do both 'to rain' and 'raining' work as well for the sentence, please?
Skrej VIP Member Joined May 11, 2015 Member Type English Teacher Native Language English Home Country United States Current Location United States Jun 8, 2022 #2 Yes.
emsr2d2 Moderator Staff member Joined Jul 28, 2009 Member Type English Teacher Native Language British English Home Country UK Current Location UK Jun 8, 2022 #3 They're both grammatical but, for reasons I can't explain, BrE speakers tend to use "to rain" with "began" and "raining" with "started". "It began raining" sounds odd to this BrE speaker. "It started raining" doesn't.
They're both grammatical but, for reasons I can't explain, BrE speakers tend to use "to rain" with "began" and "raining" with "started". "It began raining" sounds odd to this BrE speaker. "It started raining" doesn't.
jutfrank VIP Member Joined Mar 5, 2014 Member Type English Teacher Native Language English Home Country England Current Location England Jun 8, 2022 #4 I'd use started in both versions.