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Question about Past Continuous

Subject English

English

Source Originais Teachy

Originais Teachy

Topic Past Continuous

Past Continuous

Difficulty Easy

Easy

(Originais Teachy 2024) - Question Easy of English

During the Industrial Revolution, which extended from the mid-18th century to the early 19th century, technological innovations brought profound changes to society and working conditions. Charles Dickens, a keen observer and critic of this era, often depicted urban scenes and the daily lives of workers in his novels, highlighting social injustices and labor exploitation. In 'A Tale of Two Cities', Dickens uses the past continuous to describe situations that were occurring at a specific moment in the past. Considering the historical context and linguistic analysis, identify in the following excerpt the occurrence of the past continuous and explain how this verbal form denotes the continuity of an action in the past, in contrast to the simple past.

The past continuous is not identified in the mentioned excerpt, as 'A Tale of Two Cities' exclusively uses the simple past to describe actions in the past.

The verbal form 'They have been working' in the excerpt exemplifies the past continuous, indicating an action that extends to the present, not an action in the past.

The past continuous in the excerpt could be 'They were working', and this verbal form denotes the continuity of an action in the past, in contrast to the simple past, which would indicate a completed action.

In the context of the Industrial Revolution, the past continuous would be represented by phrases like 'They had worked', which describe actions prior to a specific point in the past, not focusing on the continuity of the action.

The past continuous in the excerpt could be 'They worked', and this verbal form denotes the continuity of an action in the past, in contrast to the simple past, which would indicate a completed action.

Answer sheet:

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