Short answer: Neither. It would be past perfect. "All had been broken and plundered . . . It had been slashed and stabbed and partly burned..." Grammatically, that's talking about action that was finished ("perfected") in the past. Simple past would be: "All was broken and plundered . . . It was slashed and stabbed and partly burned." Progressive past (also called "continuous past") would be: "All was being broken and plundered . . . It was being slashed and stabbed and burned." (Can't use the "partly," because in this tense, the vandals wouldn't know that yet.) So the tense is Past and the aspect is Perfect. I hope they gave you that as a choice. This link might help--- or it might not. Or maybe this. But just a suggestion: It's too late now, but this question would be better on a thread of its own and not tossed into the maelstrom of the Idiom Guide. There's nothing idiomatic about verb conjugation. It's regular English grammar. EDIT: Also, the sample sentence is in the Passive voice. Ain't conjugations fun?
I have this in hard copy beside my desk... Past Continuous = I was watching Past Simple = I watched Past perfect = I had watched Past perfect continuous = I had been watching Present perfect continuous = I have been watching Present perfect = I have watched.
aren't "I have been watching" and "I have watched" still descriptions of past activity.... present would be "I am watching"
Tell that to Tolkien, this two sentences are from The Fellowship of the Ring. But it is true that is he is considered a much better storyteller than a writer. Thank you all.
This is an extremely valuable resource for non-native English speakers like me. I an genuinely interested in improving my English language writing skills. Can I participate in this thread as well? If so, my first question: Have I written the sentence right: Can I participate in this thread as well? Thanks in advance.
Oh dear It was the principle. Tolkien, the long-winded puffbag...I didn't read much Tolkien, more of a scientist's book, ya.
Don't take any notice of Matt @Danish Anwer he lives in his own little world most of the time, we tolerate it because hes occasionally amusing
Not only that, but Google Maps doesn't even know where that little world is. It keeps locating him on the Ohio River, a little north of Pittsburgh!
Oh sure, yes, you may participate! Welcome to the Forums, and please introduce yourself in the New Members section if you haven't already. Can you participate? Let's see. You have a computer, you have a membership, you've posted on the thread. Yes, you are able to participate. Can = to be able May = to have permission Sorry. English teacher speaking. I get students all the time saying, "Miss, can I go to the bathroom?" "I hope so," I reply, "or we'd better get you to the hospital. But may you go? Sure." Note that in dialogue it's fine to use "can" when the character means "may," because they get mixed up in everyday conversation all the time.
That's where @matwoolf thinks he lives, that's what he sees when he walks out his door, but little does he know . . . *Cue Twilight Zone music*
I don't believe he actually exists. My theory is that he is a sock puppet character created en masse by the mods and admins to use when light relief is needed or when they want to promote community cohesion by introducing a mutual enemy to rail against
I've another query relating to sentence construction. Can you tell me which one of the following sentences is correct: Yesterday I had went downstairs Yesterday I went downstairs Thank you in advance.
Although you could use: I had gone downstairs. This depends upon what you're trying to say... I went downstairs is something that has happened within the current timeframe. I had gone downstairs is something that happened at some point before the current timeframe, as a sort of preface; e.g. you need to explain that you started this scene downstairs, NOT up in the bedroom.
It was a dark and stormy night when I went walked, slowly and drunkenly, downstairs, in my slippers my bare feet flinching from the haphazard drawing-pins I'd left lying around to remind me to put on my slippers.
Hey guys, I have a rather silly question, it doesn't even deserve a topic of it's own, that's wy I'm posting it here. I'm instructing a high school student in English and we were doing the future tense will. He then said their teacher wanted them to know the difference between I'll and I will. As far as I know the only difference between these two is the level of formality and that I'll is used when mimicking speech. Is there another aspect of this issue that I'm not aware of? Thanks.
