Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[navi]

I saw the man I used to work with.

Can we tell whether I was still working with him when I saw him or not?

[bud]

I think it is highly unlikely that you were still working with him when you saw him. If you were, then it would be normal to use the grammar you did in your second sentence. That is, "I saw the man I was working with."

"Used to" has an "over and done with" aspect, and even if it is used with the past tense, I'd guess that the "used to" indicates a further past than the main verb of the sentence. I'm no grammar pro, though. Any other opinions out there?

[Simon_23]

I can't understand this sentence.
For example:

It's 2005 now.
He was working with some man for 3 years (from 1982 to 1985 for example).
Now he is idle. An activity of his work was in the past.
He saw the man yesterday.

He saw the man he used to work with.
I think that the sentece above is a little strange. Am I wrong?

By the way, we use "used to" when we talk about some routins and habits that happened in the past (for sentence "smoking")
I used to smoke when I was a little boy. (but now I'm smart, clever and tall and I don't smoke).... this is story about me


But what do you think about that sentences:
He saw the man he had worked with or,
He saw the man he had been working with.

I don't know if my thinking is correct.



--
Simon

[bud]

[Vin21]

In my opinion,if you put "used to be " in a sentence,you virtually present a contrast between now and the past.

If you only say,"I used to work with him".That means now you don't work with him anymore.So you can tell.

Unless you add something to further the meaning, like
"I used to work with him,and now I'm still working with him.

But I'm not sure if it is right or not,or it's not right logically ?
Thanks.

[bud]

That's a very nice way to state it, Vin!