May 7, 2021
Computer hiccups and past tenses
1. I took the device to a repair shop because it was playing up again. (past continuous)
2. I took it to a repair shop because it had played up for some time. (past perfect)
3. I took it to a repair shop because it had been playing up for some time. (past perfect continuous)
4.The repair shop worker found out that my PC had a few hiccups/slow-downs.
Are all of those sentences correct? If so, what is the difference in meaning between 2 and 3?
Correction Settings
Computer hiccups and past tenses
1. I took the device to a repair shop because it was playing up again.
2. I took it to a repair shop because it had played up for some time.
3. I took it to a repair shop because it had been playing up for some time.
4. The repair shop worker found out that my PC had a few hiccups/slow-downs.
4. The repair shop worker found that my PC had a few hiccups/slow-downs.
"found out" works but to me it sounds a little unnatural - I think when you find something *out*, it has a sense of investigation, digging, discovering something that wasn't obvious. So if he had to run a lot of analysis tools and look through technical logs to find that it had hiccups? Yes, found out. But if he just used it for a while and noticed that it was hiccuping, then probably just found.
Are all of those sentences correct?
If so, what is the difference in meaning between 2 and 3?
Feedback
They're all correct, but past perfect continuous is the most natural between 2 and 3. The difference is really super subtle in this context. Past perfect continuous has the sense that the hiccups are an ongoing thing, past perfect implies a sort of completion. Like maybe it had been playing up for some time, you got really mad and turned it off and stopped using it. Then a week later you took it to the shop, because it had played up for some time. But you'd still be most likely to use continuous there, because being broken is a sort of continuous state and it's still broken even if you aren't using it.
Using "for some time" here makes the meaning so clear that it sort of overpowers both tenses, if you know what I mean? They both mean pretty much the exact same thing, it just comes down to whether the speaker wants to emphasise a boundary between the playing up and the taking to the shop. Are they happening in the same "chapter", or was it playing up in a previous "chapter"?
But 3 is definitely most natural. If in doubt pick that one for anything like this.
May 8, 2021
Thank you very much. You have outdone any other teachers from this site in giving clear and logical explanations🙂.
May 8, 2021
Haha, thanks, glad to help :)
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Computer hiccups and past tenses This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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1. I took the device to a repair shop because it was playing up again. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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(past continuous) |
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2. I took it to a repair shop because it had played up for some time. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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(past perfect) |
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3. I took it to a repair shop because it had been playing up for some time. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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(past perfect continuous) |
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4.The repair shop worker found out that my PC had a few hiccups/slow-downs.
4. The repair shop worker found "found out" works but to me it sounds a little unnatural - I think when you find something *out*, it has a sense of investigation, digging, discovering something that wasn't obvious. So if he had to run a lot of analysis tools and look through technical logs to find that it had hiccups? Yes, found out. But if he just used it for a while and noticed that it was hiccuping, then probably just found. |
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Are all of those sentences correct? This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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If so, what is the difference in meaning between 2 and 3? This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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