When I was first living in New York, I ate a lot of pizza.
When I first lived in New York, I ate a lot of pizza.
Is it true that the first one is natural but the second one is not?
Asked
Active
Viewed 72 times
0
-
1I don't think there is anything wrong with either of these. Why do you think the last one isn't natural? – Billy Kerr Dec 29 '22 at 17:07
-
Gut feeling.... – user1425 Dec 29 '22 at 17:20
-
They are both "natural" but mean different things. – Lambie Oct 04 '23 at 17:55
-
What's the difference? – user1425 Oct 04 '23 at 18:16
1 Answers
0
Personally, I think both are quite natural, but some people may feel there is a difference between the two, possibly how one expresses themselves through past tense or past continous.
DialFrost
- 8,001
- 5
- 14
- 47
-
When you are asked "What were you doing yesterday?" do you imagine being asked about ONE activity or more than ONE? – user1425 Dec 29 '22 at 18:21
-
1Hmm, it depends, in this case the time span of the question is 1 day, so unless you weren't doing anything that day, I'd probably think more than 1 @user1425 – DialFrost Dec 29 '22 at 18:23
-
So, do you find these natural answers? I was doing the washing-up. I was reading a book. I was walking the dog. All these I was doing yesterday. – user1425 Dec 29 '22 at 18:28
-
1Yep. A few corrections-> I was washing the dishes, I was doing all these yesterday – DialFrost Dec 29 '22 at 18:41
-
OK. But yesterday is approximately 12 hours. Literally, it means that I was washing the dishes for 12 hours. – user1425 Dec 29 '22 at 18:45
-
@user1425, yup but you arent going to list every single thing you did in that 12 hours now would you? :3 The point of that question is to find out what important/interesting things you did – DialFrost Dec 29 '22 at 18:47