I was going shopping / shopping
When he called me, I was going shopping.
When he called me, I was going out.

I have my doubts about the second parts of the sentences above. Can we use 'go shopping' or 'go out' as actions in progress? Or should we rather say 'I was shopping / I was out'?

Question

I was going shopping / shopping
When he called me, I was going shopping.
When he called me, I was going out.

I have my doubts about the second parts of the sentences above. Can we use 'go shopping' or 'go out' as actions in progress? Or should we rather say 'I was shopping / I was out'?

Answer

To my mind, I "was shopping" sounds much better, especially if you don't want to emphasize that you hadn't started shopping yet. If you do you could say something like "I was on the way to the supermarket".
"Was out" loses the meaning that "go out" conveys (go somewhere to have a good time) shifting it to "not being in some place".

Answers · 1

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