Past Simple vs Past Continuous
It feels like I'll never master these tences in contexts like this:
"There was a lot of clowns at that event, but no one was laughing (or laughed?)"
If we assume that they were continuously telling jokes throughout the event, that means that the visitors were continually "not laughing". But something tells me just "laughed" is OK too. Please, help me understand the difference if there is any.
Have a great day every1 and thanks in advance for any corrections and comments! Love u all.
Search from various English teachers...
Corrections · 6
1
correction
[comment]
Past Simple vs Past Continuous
It feels like I'll never master these tenses in contexts like this:
"There was were [plural to match clowns] a lot of clowns at that event, but no one was laughing (or laughed?) [both could be correct, but without more context it is hard to judge]"
If we assume that they were continuously telling jokes throughout the event, that means that the visitors were continually "not laughing". But something tells me just "laughed" is OK too. [I think in this case, "laughed" would be more correct." See below for more explanation.] Please, help me understand the difference if there is any.
Have a great day every1 and thanks in advance for any corrections and comments! Love u all.
[I think you understand well. It is a small difference, however, I hope I can clarify. If you said, "The clowns stopped because no one was laughing," then the past continuous is important because it describes the long action that was happening when a short action happened. You use the past continuous to describe an action that was going on when another, short action happened: "I was watching television when he arrived." You couldn't say, "I watched television when he arrived?" and mean the same thing. Does that make sense? Let me know if you have questions.]
0
Eldar, "a lot" is a plural amount that means "many," so you would use were.
0
Past Tense is used for an exact moment. For example; The clown made a joke but nobody laughed. But in this context, people never laugh as long as the clown is there. There is a longer period of time.
0
Hey, Anna, but doesn't "was" refer to "a lot" which is singular?
0
It depends on what tense you're using...and what you prefer. Both are okay. When talking about a lot of people, we say were, not was.
one person- was
many people- were
Want to progress faster?
Join this learning community and try out free exercises!
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn a language from the comfort of your own home. Browse our selection of experienced language tutors and enroll in your first lesson now!
Start Learning Today
