She was always leaving her dirty dishes in the sink.

[GeneD]

14. She was so annoying! She was always leaving her dirty dishes in the sink. I think she actually expected me to do them for her. From the exercises.

The past continuous in the second sentence is used to convey annoyance, right? I'm aware that the word 'always' can produce this effect making the impression that the action is a never-ending process and that the person acting seems to do nothing else than to annoy someone with their action. What about the last sentence? Is it possible to use the past continuous instead of simple? It seems that the thought is the same as in the second, and even though there are no 'always' in the third, its presence in the previous sentence can make it unnecessary to repeat it. If the continuous is possible, would it be natural?

 

[nigele2]

“The past continuous in the second sentence is used to convey annoyance, right?”

“was always leaving” emphasises frequency but not annoyance.

For example, you could say “She was always washing my clothes, leaving me more time to study.” No annoyance is expressed there.

To use the past continuous three times is rather boring. So the third sentence is fine.

As to whether the second sentence is more natural with past continuous or simple past I think is down to style.

Clearly the first sentence sets the scene, so the next two sentences are taken within that context.

 

[GeneD]

“The past continuous in the second sentence is used to convey annoyance, right?”

“was always leaving” emphasises frequency but not annoyance.

For example, you could say “She was always washing my clothes, leaving me more time to study.” No annoyance is expressed there.

Thanks for pointing this out. You can't imagine how often I've seen threads where always+past continuous scheme was described by learners from various countries as expressing annoyance! We must have used the same grammar book and misintepreted the same example from there.

To use the past continuous three times is rather boring.

'Two times' you wanted to say? I would say that the first one is the past simple (like in 'she was beautiful'). At the same time I see no reason why it can't be considered continuous as well. What a mysterious language!

...is rather boring.So the third sentence is fine.

I'm not sure I agree with you here. Would it be boring or unnatural to describe what was going on at a particular moment? For instance, here you can have a look at #12; there are a lot of sentences in the past continuous going one right after the other. That's why, I think, those example sentences in post 1 are so confusing to me. I did that exercise in the past, and I made the same mistake today (in #14, I mean). Hence my confusion.

 

[GeneD]

nigele2,
In the previous post I wasn't precise when I said that I'm not sure I agree with you. I didn't intend to say that the sentence wasn't fine. In fact, I have no reason to disbelieve you here. The question why the third sentence is in the past tense is fine is what bewilders me. Is it really because it's boring to repeat the same tense? Maybe you are right, and in this case the 'boring' reason works... But maybe there are some other reasons for the past tense?

I've googled 'was always doing' and instantly found a thread on this topic on another forum. The funny part of this is that the person who asked the question there gave as the source that very site where I was doing the exercise we are discussing now! Anyhow, they seem to agree that the emotion conveyed with the structure is negative. (Or maybe mostly negative. Maybe the explanation was too brief to mention smaller details. I don't know.) And, interestingly, the site (with the exercises and the explanation that I got aware of only now) is American, and I saw a similar brief explanation in a British grammar book. So I take it as if there is at least a tendency to use the structure in this way.

Could it be that 'always' or 'constantly' should be necessarily present to convey the negative idea (otherwise the continuous tense isn't required)? If so, can other words with a similar meaning be used? 'Continuously', for example.

The other question intriguing me greatly is whether the answer would be also correct and natural if the past continuous tense in that last sentence (I think she was actually expecting me to do them for her) were used.

What do all of you think of this?

 

[GeneD]

Thanks for the enlightening explanation, Piscean. Everything's clear now.