Re: did

Marius Hancu — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 12:42:40 GMT

She had been a nice woman.
You need more context for this, establishing the need for past perfect.

The simple past is simpler in this respect, less context is usually required.

Make a search at Yahoo for
"she had been"
(quotation marks are important)
for many samples of such contexts.

Re: correct writing

Clive — Wed, 03 May 2006 22:33:37 GMT

Hi,

1. Is âitâ necessary after âwatchingâ ? No, Either is OK
2. It would be wrong to say âlearn enjoyingâ, wouldnât it ? Yes
3. Do we need a comma before âwhoâ here or should the relative clause be restrictive ? Put a comma, unless you had two mothers ( a stepmother?). ha-ha
4. Is a comma needed after âsaidâ ? I wouldn't put one
5. same question as above same answer
6. Is a comma needed after âoffâ too? If yes, should I put it inside or outside the quotation marks? Yes. I'd put it outside.
7. Does âas it wasâ mean something like âas things wereâ, or âgiven the way she behaved with usâ ?Both, really.
8 & 10. How would you justify the use the progressive form here ? Simple past would be OK. Progressive stresses the degree of 'expecting' stressing the duration of 'expecting'.
9. Does âyet another taleâ mean âone more taleâ here? Yes. One more in a series. And in such a construction should it always come the past progressive? No.
11. Can I say that? Yes
12. Is âsomeâ necessary/acceptable here or should it be omitted because weâre not talking about specific computer games? It's OK, but better without it.

Best wishes, Clive

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Re: did

Re: correct writing