Help with past continuous vs past simple

English grammar and usage issues

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bluetooth
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Posts: 1
Joined: 24 Jan 2017, 06:53
Status: Teacher

Help with past continuous vs past simple

Unread post by bluetooth »

Thank you.

The sentence is:

Doing my housework today I felt so tired, but after I was done I would rest...

The question is:

Why .ing, past continuoiu, in the first part of the sentence but 'was', past simple, in the second part
Lingo
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Posts: 6
Joined: 29 Nov 2016, 05:18
Status: Teacher

Re: Help with past continuous vs past simple

Unread post by Lingo »

Hi bluetooth,

Interesting example here. The first clause in the sentence is actually not past continuous. In order to make a past continuous clause, we need some form of the verb "be" and the -ing form of a verb.

Here, the clause "Doing my housework" is missing the verb "be", so it is a non-finite clause. Non-finite clauses add background to and are considered not as important as the independent clause to which they are "attached".
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