Igor
"Would" for repeated events in the past? How can I use the stative verb "to understand" to express its repeated action in the past? Just imagine the situation: For some period in the past A was giving to B regular instructions or explanations by messaging without a feedback, and when they finally met again A asks about the understanding. Does the following phrase make sense - "I hope you would understand the explanations I was giving you?"
29 de sep. de 2017 16:58
Respuestas · 5
1
"I hope you would understand the explanations I was giving you." This sentence just needs a minor tweak. I have two below. "I hope you could understand the explanations I was giving you." "Could" implies the past more than "would" in this case. And the last part of the sentence, "... I was giving you," is past continuous. And: "I hoped you would understand the explanations I was giving you." Again, by making "hope" past tense, the first part of the sentence agrees with the latter half in tense. But if you want to say that you are hoping NOW about what you had done in the past , you would say, " I hope you understood the explanations I was giving you." I hope this helps. :-)
29 de septiembre de 2017
Used to/would and the past simple for repeated actions are similar; however, there are some slight differences. "Used to" is used for past states or repeated past actions. Past state: I used to live in Brighton when I was a kid. Repeated past action: I used to go swimming every Monday when I was at school. "Would" is only used for repeated past actions, without any past state in the sentence: Every Saturday, I would go dancing. Not: Every Saturday, I would go dancing when I was younger. This one is wrong. The past simple can be used to talk about repeated past actions: I went/used to go/would go to the same beach every summer. All of them are possible here. Note that if something happened just once, you have to use the past simple. Hope that makes sense! :)
29 de septiembre de 2017
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