Past Simple VS Past Continuous
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 going 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)
Обычно, для повторяющихся действий в прошлом используется Past Simple
НО
можно использовать и Past Continuous, если есть указатель на период, в течение которого эти действия повторялись:
She received chemotherapy on a weekly basis (… каждую неделю)
On doctor’s recommendation, we went to the swimming pool three times a week.
For the first three months she was receiving chemotherapy on a weekly basis
Last year we were going to the swimming pool three times a week.