Was taking....?

[Polyester]

I'm thinking about my sentences are grammatically correct?

Peter was taking the MTR to airport yesterday night. He arrived the airport on time. Also, he went to check-out counter to do the process, when he was taking out the passport from his bag. He found his passport was gone. He now can't check-out and stay in the airport.

 

[Raymott]

I'm [STRIKE]thinking about[/STRIKE] wondering if my sentences are grammatically correct. [STRIKE]?[/STRIKE] (Not a question).

"Peter was taking the MTR to the airport [STRIKE]yesterday[/STRIKE] last night. He arrived at the airport on time, and went to the check-out [check-in?] counter to do the process. When he [STRIKE]was taking out the passport[/STRIKE] went to take out his passport from his bag, he found [STRIKE]his passport[/STRIKE] that it was gone. He now can't check out and stay in the airport."

I understand why he can't check in, but I'm not sure why he can't stay in the airport.

 

[tedmc]

I understand why he can't check in, but I'm not sure why he can't stay in the airport.

The episode happened yesterday, so the past tense should be used throughout.

He [STRIKE]now can't[/STRIKE] couldn't check [STRIKE]out[/STRIKE] in and [STRIKE]stayed[/STRIKE] had to stay in the airport.

I think OP's "can't" is not meant for the "stay in the airport" part.

 

[Tarheel]

Polyester, I don't understand why you use "was taking" there. Peter got to the airport. So he took the MTR to the airport. Unfortunately, while he was at the ticket counter he discovered his passport was missing.

 

[Polyester]

Tarheel,
Why can't use the "was taking" here?
I made the sentences by using my own words. What's wrong?

 

[tedmc]

Polyester
May I know why you chose the past continuous tense instead of the past tense in the sentence?

 

[Raymott]

I don't know what an MTR is, so I passed over that.

 

[Polyester]

Raymott
I was taking the train.
Is it okay now?

 

[Polyester]

tedmc,
Why can't use the past continuous instead of past tense?
What's wrong when I using the past continuous?

 

[Matthew Wai]

Would you use the past continuous instead of the simple past in 'He went to the airport last night'?

 

[Raymott]

I think it would be more instructional if Polyester answered tedmc's question.

 

[tedmc]

tedmc,
Why can't I use the past continuous instead of past tense?
What's wrong when I [STRIKE]using[/STRIKE] use the past continuous?

Polyester,
See, you are using the continuous tense above for no reason. And you are not used to using the auxillary verb "am" with "using".
You do not use the past continuous tense for a non-continuous action as taking a train.
I would advise that you use the simple past tense tense unless you have a particular reason to use the past continuous.

 

[Polyester]

I used the past continuous because i want to say the process is happening in the past.
Is it okay now? tedmc...

 

[tedmc]

Taking the train to the airport is not a process.
Arriving at the airport or departing from the airport is not a process.
Travelling on the train is a process.
As I said, you do not use the continuous tense when you can use the simple present/past tense.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Arriving at the airport or departing from the airport is not a process.

I think 'The plane is arriving/departing' is a process.

i want to say the process is happening in the past.

'He was taking a bath' is a process happening in the past.

 

[Raymott]

I used the past continuous because i want to say the process is happening in the past.

But it's not happening. It happened.
You could use it if something else happened while Peter was taking to the train to the airport. But nothing happened.
"Peter was taking the train to the airport when three of the carriages derailed." This is probably the most common use of the past continuous. An event B interrupts an ongoing event A. The ongoing event is put into the past continuous.

 

[tedmc]

I think 'The plane is arriving/departing' is a process.

The continuous tense used in the above sentence indicates that the arrival will happen in the near future, not that it is a process.

See Use No.3 here:
https://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentcontinuous.html

Also arrival/departure is expressed as a point in time, e.g. the arrival time is 2.00 pm.

 

[Matthew Wai]

The continuous tense used in the above sentence indicates that the arrival will happen in the near future, not that it is a process.

'The plane is arriving/departing' = 'The plane is landing/taking off', which is a process in the present.

 

[Tarheel]

I used the past continuous because i want to say the process was happening in the past.

Please read Raymott's post, and do it several times. Also, I suggest that you get out of the habit of using the word process. Instead, say "The thing happened in the past" or "The event happened in the past. (In this case, "was happening".)

 

[tedmc]

'The plane is arriving/departing' = 'The plane is landing/taking off', which is a process in the present.

I think this is just being pedantic and is nitpicking.

A process takes time. A plane arrives at the airport at a certain time, say 2.00 pm. If it is a continuous action or a "process", you may as well say that the plane arrives from 2.00 - 2.10 pm.

Similarly, the landing of a plane occurs at the instant it touches the ground after being airborne. The plan has not landed as long as it is still in the air. As such, do you consider landing a process?

My examples were just to illustrate that the past continuous tense does not apply to a non-continuous action. You could have been more constructive by giving better examples.