2015-04-08 Structure: past & progressive

Greg Malivuk
[email protected]
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk
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Homework: p. 7 exercise 3
- Our teacher wants a profile from each of us. (non-action)
- my English dictionary defines profile as (non-action, general fact)
- Why does she want that? (does + base form)
- Some of my friends call me Pay-Ha (routine action, happens every day)
- my initials actually sound in German (non-action)
- I am studying English (in progress right now)
- Maybe you are asking yourself (not a question -> subj + [be] + verb(ing))
- Why does he want to leave Miami (this is a question)
- I come from Austria / I am from Austria (non-action)
- I’m always trying (adverbs like “always” come after [be])
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Action and Non-Action Verbs:

Non-action verbs don’t take any time, action verbs take some time.
I have breakfast at 7:30 every morning. - action (eating breakfast takes time)
I have one sister and no brothers. - non-action (it doesn’t take time to have siblings)
I think about my future every day. - action (it takes time to think about something)
I think I will have a good future. - non-action (it takes no time to believe something)
(Many verbs have action meanings and non-action meanings. You must pay attention to the context (the other words around this word).)

Usually “think of” and “think about” are actions, but sometimes it can mean your opinion about something, which is not an action:
What do you think of “Mangena”? (p. 7 C4) = What is your opinion of this name?
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p. 14 - Do you recognize any of the people in these pictures?
p. 13 reading
When Kent proposed, Lane accepted.
= When he asked her to marry him, she said yes.
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p. 15 A Vocabulary
1 research
2 couple (“couple” as a noun means exactly two people in a relationship)
3 opponent
4 recover
5 influential
6 cover
B Comprehension
1 during: this…character met Lois Lane while the two were working as…reporters
2 after: And she didn’t even know he was Superman.
3 after (she met him at the Sorbonne, which is in Paris, so it was after she moved)
4 before
5 before (he was painting a mural at the school, so he began painting murals before the school)
6 during: While she was recovering, she started painting from bed.
7 during: she suffered a series of injuries while she was playing
8 after: (They met in Paris.) The superstars started dating and married a few years later.
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7:00 - wake up and get dressed
7:30 - start breakfast
7:30 - start reading a book
8:00 - finish breakfast
8:00 - finish reading
8:15 - leave my house

I wake up before I have breakfast. I have breakfast before I leave my house.
I leave my house after I finish reading. I finish breakfast after I wake up.
I read a book during breakfast. I read a book while I am eating breakfast.
(during + noun, while + sentence)

I get dressed before breakfast. I get dressed before I eat breakfast.
I read during breakfast. I read while I am eating breakfast.
I leave my house after breakfast. I leave my house after I eat breakfast.
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Simple past: things that happened and finished in the past
I ate breakfast before I left my house.

Past progressive: things that were in progress at a specific time (only actions)
I was eating breakfast when you called me. (Your call interrupted my breakfast.)
I was reading a book while I was eating breakfast.
1. I was living in Mexico in 1997. = I lived in Mexico during most or all of 1997.
2. I was living in Mexico in the 1990s. = I lived in Mexico during most of the 1990s.
-> If I only lived there from 1996 to 1998, I can’t say sentence 2.
3. I lived in Mexico in the 1990s. = Maybe I only lived there for one or two years, but they were years in the 1990s.

past progressive + another action or time
= past progressive action was as long as or longer than the other action or time
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while + sentence = the sentence continued for some time (probably progressive)
You called while I was eating breakfast.
* You called while I ate breakfast. (unusual, sometimes wrong)

when + sentence = the sentence happened at the same time OR before the other action
I was eating breakfast when you called. = at the same time
I paused my TV show when you called. = after (first you called, then I paused it)

I made dinner when I got home. = I got home first, then I made dinner.
* I was making dinner when I got home. = I was already cooking when I entered my house.
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every kind of progressive = [be] + verb(ing)
past progressive = was/were + verb(ing)
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Homework: exercise 1 on p. 18 (also read the grammar notes on p. 17-18)