Past Continuous
ПРИМЕНЕНИЕ
Прошедшее действие рассматривается, как процесс. Мы (или тот, о котором идёт речь), совершали действие:
– в определённый момент
What were you doing at 8.30 last night? ~ I was not doing anything special. I was reading.
At the time of our arrival, the city was going through a period of rapid expansion.
We didn’t hear the intruder to enter because we were sleeping on the top floor that night.
Seventy cars were crossing the bridge when the pier collapsed into the river.
+
даже с ‘be’ и ‘have’:
Wendy was being wild at the party.
She wasn’t with us. She was having a graduation party.
– на определённом этапе
During my training, I was earning a lot less than my wife, and she didn’t like it at all.
During the time I started to get chest pains, I was playing tennis a lot.
Last summer, I was attending computer science courses. That’s where we met.
– регулярно, в одно и то же время
At 8 o’clock, I was usually driving to work, so he phoned me on my mobile.
7 o’clock was a bit early. We were usually eating then.
At 9 in the evening, he was usually watching TV, but not that day.
Обычно, группа Continuous не употребляется со статичными глаголами (описывающими НЕ действие, А состояние):
Cтатичные глаголы:
1. ментальные
– мысли и мнения (agree, believe, doubt, guess, imagine, know, mean, recognize, remember, suspect, think, understand)
– чувства и эмоции (dislike, hate, like, love, prefer, want, wish)
– восприятие (appear, be, feel, hear, look, see, seem, smell, taste)
2. владеть (belong, have, possess, own)
3. измерять (measure, weigh)
I believed him then (NOT I was believing him then)
Those days, I preferred books to films (NOT … I was preferring…)
I understood that they didn’t intend to return (NOT … I was understanding… were not intending)
НО
Некоторые статичные глаголы (find, realize, regret, think, understand, appear, doubt, feel, guess, hear, imagine, look, measure, remember, smell, weigh, wish, taste, see) используются в Simple ИЛИ Continuous, в зависимости от контекста:
I regretted that the company had to be sold (“сожалел” как факт=не рассматривается как процесс)
I was regretting my decision to give her the job (“сожалел” как процесс=думал с сожалением, раскаивался)
Ещё примеры:
ACTION
During my staying in New York, Madonna was appearing in a musical on Broadway.
ИЛИ
She often appeared in musicals (activity: took part)
Those days I was thinking about moving to Canada.
ИЛИ
Your trouble is, you thought too much (activity: consider)
We were seeing the Browns yesterday afternoon (activity: we were meeting them)
Look! The chef is tasting the wine (activity: tasting the wine)
STATE
The new treatment for influenza didn’t appear to work (state: seemed)
Did you think it was a good idea? (state: opinion)
Did you see any problems with that? (state: opinion)
This coffee tasted delicious (state: our perception of the coffee)