EGrammar Unit. 6

はてなDUO 英語学習

過去進行形 / Past Continuous (I was doing)

We use the past continuous to say that somebody was in the middle of doing something at a certain time. The action or situation had already started before this time but had not finished.

ある時点で動作の最中だという事を示す時に使う。もっと言うと、その時点より前に動作を始めていて、まだ終えていない時。

We often use the simple past and the past continuous together to say that something happened in the middle of something else.

何かしていた時に何かが起こった時には過去進行形と過去形を一緒に使う。例。

  • Matt burned his hand while he was cooking dinner.
  • Jane was waiting for me when I arrived.

But we use the simple past to say that one thing happened after another.

何かしていて、次に何かをした場合は過去形を使う。次の例文を比べてみよう。

  • When Beth arrived, we had dinner.
    • = Beth arrived and then we had dinner.
  • When Beth arrived, we were having dinner.
    • = We had already started dinner.

始めの文は、ベスが到着してから夕食を始めた。次の文はベスが到着した時にはもうすでに夕食の最中だった、という意味になる。

ここの英文はGrammar in useより引用。

単語

in time
  1. いつかは、そのうちに、時が経てば、やがて
  2. 時間に遅れずに、ちょうどよいときに、正しいテンポで、調子を合わせて

(英辞郎より)

  1. after a period of time when a situation has changed
  2. not late; with enough time to be able to do something

(OXFORD現代英英辞典より)

ages

長い間
ex) ages ago : 随分昔に、とっくの昔に
(英辞郎より)

age

  1. the number of years that a person has lived or a thing has existed
  2. a particular period of a person's life
  3. a particular period of history
  4. the state of being old
  5. (ages, informal) a very long time (主観的に、ぽい)

(OXFORD現代英英辞典より)