beta_teacher  +  571924 Tue, 30 Sep 08 04:23 PM Hi, in the following sentence : Bob and I went for a walk. I had ttrouble keeping up with him because ______ (walk) so fast. which  tense shoul be used? Past progressive or Past Perfect Progressive Thanks, Beta beta_teacher Joined on Tue, Sep 30 2008 New Member 03 Tenses, Past Perfect

	Goodman  +  571930 Tue, 30 Sep 08 04:37 PM What do you think? and why? We don't want to just give you the answer not knowing if you understand the reason. So fill in the blank and let us know. Goodman Joined on Mon, Nov 7 2005 Senior Member 3,816 The name says it all! Past Perfect

	beta_teacher  +  571932 Tue, 30 Sep 08 04:54 PM Goodman, I understand the use of thoses tenses in English, however, what I would like to discuss here is the possibility of a different interpretation, I mean, Past Perfect Progressive is used to talk about a longer action which had continued up to the past moment we were mentioning, while the past progressive is used to talk about an action which was in progress during a time in the past. So ? Ok, Bob was walking  during a time, but can we think about the other possibility too? Thanks, Beta beta_teacher Tenses, Past Perfect, Perfect Progressive

	Goodman  +  571938 Tue, 30 Sep 08 05:33 PM Beta,  Sure we can discuss but I thought you were not sure which one was correct, at least this is the impression I got. (Bob and I went for a walk.). I had trouble keeping up with him because he was walking  so fast   This is a rather simple sentence. I understand your thinking pattern because of the 2 actions (had trouble and walked). I see it this way. If you must use past perfect because the grammar book said so, probably no one will call it wrong. However, the context perceived is a recent past (Bob and I went for a walk.). So the past perfect (to me) is an “over-killed” option.  So the other answer which was “past progressive” is correct. If you like the forum’s opinion, it would be helpful if you made the question clear to us. Otherwise we have to assume since  we don’t know what you want exactly.     Goodman Grammar, Past Perfect

	Clive  +  571966 Tue, 30 Sep 08 07:08 PM Hi in the following sentence : Bob and I went for a walk. I had ttrouble keeping up with him because ______ (walk) so fast. which  tense shoul be used? Past progressive because he was walking so fast or Past Perfect Progressive because he had been walking so fast Of these two choices, only the former is correct. The latter seems an odd thing to even consider here. Are you sure that you really mean Past Perfect Progressive, or have you just used the wrong name? Best wishes, Clive Clive Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004 Canada Veteran Member 29,585 El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo Tenses, Past Perfect, Perfect Progressive

	CalifJim  +  571977 Tue, 30 Sep 08 08:18 PM beta_teacher “Past progressive or Past Perfect Progressive” Of the two, past progressive is the only one that seems idiomatic to my ear, but present is fine as well.  In fact, present tense was the first that came to mind for me, i.e., he's a 'fast walker'.  And the simple past is also fine. CJ  CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,389 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche Tenses, Present Tenses, Past Perfect, Simple Past, Perfect Progressive

	CalifJim  +  572064 Wed, 01 Oct 08 03:50 AM Anonymous “I think a good tense option after a past tense to denote an action that happened before that up to that the time shown in the sentence is a past perfect tense,” There's nothing wrong with this reasoning, but the time of having trouble must have been the very same time as the walking too fast.  If the fast walking had taken place before the walking session in question, it would have been irrelevant to that walking session. Anonymous “How about this?   I was uneasy because he had been badgering me with that request for forty minutes.” Here it is a little easier for me to think of the badgering preceding the uneasiness.  And the for phrase tends to force a perfect tense anyway. CJ  CalifJim Tenses, Past Perfect, Past Tenses