Job Discussion Forums

[Zhejiang_Man]

[choudoufu]

[Mr. English]

According to Swan's "Practical English Usage", third edition, at section 422.4 (page 396):
"The past progressive, like other progressive forms, is used for temporary actions and situations. When we talk about longer, more permanent situations we use the simple past."

My take on the sentence in the test book is that their working together was a temporary situation and that C, "were working", is therefore the correct choice.

[Denim-Maniac]

Both are correct. 'were working' and 'worked' are equally correct and it would be wrong to say one answer is wrong, especially if there is no context. As always context is key.

We dont have the whole test to hand. And when we see questions like this reproduced from a class / book we rarely see the whole text and context.

If this question was one in a series which focused on using simple past and past progressive in some kind of controlled practice exercise, that one would be 'more' correct .... Some times a controlled practice task may ask students to use the same verb form in subsequent clauses, in which case the past simple answer would be 'more' correct, but without that context its just a poorly written question that doesnt have a definitive answer.

The idea that verb forms should always follow is a silly one. Ever seen a 2nd conditional sentence?

And I dont think 'working' is a gerund either. Its the main verb following an auxiliary. Helena - I cant believe you let the mis-naming of a gerund slide.

[Mr. English]

I agree, Denim-Maniac, that context is all. Unfortunately many of these tests have questions that, as you put it, are "without � context � poorly written � [and don't] have definite answers". Test takers need to guess the context as best they can.

[dakelei]

Interesting discussion. The book said "C" is the correct answer.

In general I utterly despise these absurd Chinese exams. If a group of university-educated, native English speakers can not be 100% sure what an answer is how can a 16 y/o Chinese kid? This is why so many Chinese students hate English and why so few Chinese can actually speak it. I'm convinced these exams are made impossibly difficult on purpose to sell practice books and force students to pay more fees to re-take them. It's a travesty. At the uni where I teach the failure rate for the TEM-4 has hovered around 50% for years despite the students' obsession with studying for it. Drives me nuts. It's hard to muster up any "passion" for English when for most students it's just another subject they need to pass an "exam" in. And, of course, I've met quite a few students who do manage to pass these exams but are totally incapable of holding a conversation in English. The whole system is nuts. (OK, knee-jerk reactive China apologists: Go ahead and tell me why the Exam System is great and how we fat, lazy Americans could learn a thing or 2 from it. I'll wait.)

[choudoufu]

[johntpartee]

[Denim-Maniac]

[chinatimes]

[wangdaning]

[chinatimes]

[wangdaning]

You simply echoed the idea Denim presented.

[chinatimes]

[wangdaning]