Support materials for the Diary Entry “Speaking about the Past (5)”
Imposed model
| Parameters | DID (Ved) | Was/were Ving | Had DID (Ved) |
| Time of action |
past Did you play baseball in childhood? |
Past Richard was sleeping with his mouth slightly open. |
Pre-past By the end of June all students had passed their exams. |
| Duration of action |
No She kissed me goodbye and disappeared. |
Yes Richard was sleeping with his mouth slightly open. |
No
|
| Interruption (Action completeness) |
Subject of… When I came, she was talking on the phone. |
Object of (no end) Children were making some noise and at some point it made me angry. Background action |
Object of (end) She had run for an hour when she finally reached the foot of the mountain. |
| Relation to other actions |
One after another When she came, he made coffee. (first she came, then he made coffee) |
Parallel processes While she was coming back home from work, he was making coffee. |
Before past When she came he had made coffee. (first he made coffee, then she came) |
Comments
- relation to other actions: I don't think that values 'one after the other' and 'parallel' actually distinguish DID and WAS DOING. Both forms can be used when we speak about simultaneous actions, cf:
He came when I left.
Another difficulty is distinguishing between 'one after the other' and 'before past' - what are the criteria?
- I am not sure I understand the values of parameter 'interruption' - can you elaborate pls?
- duration can be very difficult to define, cf:
They'd lived in Latvia for quite a few years when we met - why 'no' duration?
We spent lots of time together in college - why no duration?
- what's the difference between - pre-past and before past?
- don't you mean the same by duration, process and an incomplete action?
- don't you have too many different 'terms' under the parameter interruption: completeness, object, subject, background action; end/no end?
What about 'a check list' for a model? :)