1)sounds a bit strange...
2)sounds a bit strange...
3)sounds a bit strange...
4)sounds a bit strange...
5)sounds a bit strange...

'I was tempted to explain why but then you said you didn't want any.

I would like to answer this,just to see how my answers compares to the natives' answers; It will be interesting for me.

1.fine
2.fine
3 strange
4.fine
5.strange.

One small observation, I noticed that Americans use the word beging more often than the word start, I don't know the reason for this.

It really sounds strange to me the "can could" construction and the last subject pronoun "you" in every sentence could definitely be omitted.

Oh!, My God ! I wish you would explain.
Is it the way the time is writen ? 13:00 instead of 1 PM
Or, is it the use of the word start ?

LadyDi said:

1)sounds a bit strange...2)sounds a bit strange...3)sounds a bit strange...4)sounds a bit strange...5)sounds a bit strange...'I was tempted to explain why but then you said you didn't want any.

>

Grammatically speaking, they're all without problem. Ecologically speaking, if you spent two hours in the shower, you should be ashamed of yourself!

They all sound unnatural, especially (3).

It's more natural to use words such as ' We began ......at 12:00 until' rather than using 'started....finished'. Using 'started and finished' in that way is reminiscent of a fomal legal document.

My feeling: The sentences all sound "natural." However, people often say funny things that sound natural. It is probably not due to how the language is used, or grammar, but because of the context, the thought, the connotations (I think that is the right word).

Sentence number one sounds completely natural to me. Because you "finished" I might assume you two were not just talking, but talking about something in particular for that length of time and had both said all there was to say.

But with regard to sentence # two, I would never really say that I "finished" wearing a shirt - not because the sentence sounds unnatural but because I would naturally express the thought in a different way. Although I might, for example, finish ironing a shirt, or finish sewing buttons on a shirt, I would probably complete this sentence about wearing a shirt with "..and I took it off at 14:00." Indeed, I might start the thoughts with "I put the shirt on at 12:00." On the other hand, I definitely would say that I was wearing the shirt at 13:00.

For sentence three, no one "finishes" going home, but rather "gets home." This sentence sounds altogether strange.

Number four, too, is "iffy" because one "stops" having a good time. I can't imagine "finishing" having a good time, and the pronoun "it" doesn't help make the sentence sound more natural.

Sentence five: This sentence sounds natural at first. But if someone said this sentence to me and then asked me to repeat what the person had just said, I would say that I finished showering instead of "finished having it." In fact, if I had just told someone that I had been having a shower at 13:00, I would not say I started to have a shower, but rather "I started my shower" or "got into the shower" or something like that at 12:00.

What do you mean, though, by the phrase "describing mechanically." Does "mechanically" mean "describing by some computer translation service" ''

The "can / could" is an obvious mistake; I meant to delete "can" and write "could". Sorry.

Before I made those silly "can / could" mistakes, I was hoping to get lots of comments about No. 3, but apparently, only Marc and Janice seem to see things my way. Actually, Janice's comments are EXACTLY what I expected; thanks! (and to the rest: sorry that I didn't make myself clear).

Anyway, the "started to" and "finished" were intentional. Maybe I should have given a different list, such as "a bit strange", "something is not quite right" and "completely unacceptable".

Just in case you're wondering: I am testing a grammatical theory, and I needed some rather fictitious scenarios to observe people's cognitive impressions of them, in order to try to improve future explanations for English speakers learning Spanish (as my English is not that good).

Gus, why did you find #5 stranger than #4? Can you put it in words'

I forgot to mention something (I can't even explain myself): what I meant by "natural" is a sentence that sounds coherent (even if it is formal) and makes enough sense for someone to use it in a real situation. This is really difficult to explain, but can you really say "I finished my going to someone's house" like you'd say "I finished my shower"? Can you find a way to describe the end of both actions using the same words so they both sound natural'

I hate to say it, but ALL those sentences sound unnatural, though mostly grammatically correct except for the obvious typo of "can could". Only in a strange, hard to imagine context, say some sort of logic game or postmodern poetry, could those sentences not seem out of place and practically absurd. As Janice points out, you don't say you "finished" wearing a shirt or getting home, and you probably wouldn't say you "finished" having a good time either, though you can say you finished speaking at a particular time.

And though starting and finishing speaking makes sense because in the context of a lecture the time you speak can be timed precisely, having a good time really can't be in the real world. "Finished" implies an action that would have a natural end, not ended by external events. We "finish" making breakfast (or making love) because a series of actions has reached its logical conclusion. Though "getting home" seems to be the logical conclusion of the walk, nobody would ever say they finished getting home. You arrive.

And those sentences don't state any factual situation, only ask if you were speaking at 1300 you COULD say that you started at 1200 and finished at 1400. You COULD say it, but you DIDN'T say it, you asked if you could say it, and of course you could, the sentences are grammatically correct and there's no language police to arrest you. I can't see (if I may ask) why you would want to know if those sentences sound natural in English when your are trying to find out something about grammar. There are many ways to describe an action, or an idea, and probably the simplest is the best. Best say: "I started out walking at 1200, was still walking at 1300 and got home at 1400." (Started OUT is often used when going somewhere though just "started" is okay)

I would, however, be interested in how you'd express that kind of thing in Spanish, or whether you could say something like, "Empecé caminar a las 1200, ya estaba caminando a las 1300 y llegé en casa a las 1400." You can tell me what is wrong with that. I wouldn't think you'd use the present participle for all 3 of those dependent clauses, would you? Would you say 'estaba caminando' or 'caminaba' a 1300'

I don't have anywhere near the problem some others do with finished going home. Finished getting home sounds strange yes, but to finish going somewhere (complete the journey ) doesn't sound odd to me. I don't think it's strange to finish a shower, but to finish having a shower sounds very odd indeed. To finish having dinner sounds natural, but to finish having a shower doesn't. I don't think I would ever start to have a shower either... I would get in the shower or start my shower.

My personal favorite though is finish having a good time. That's just depressing isn't it?

The whole "ïf you say ___|, you could say \___|" construction though is wierd and unnatural. It might illustrate a point you want to make, but it doesn't sound like language that would ever come from the mouth of a person.

All 5 seem the same to me: they sound strange to me. Of course, the converse of the statements are valid. That is, if you are dong somethin from 12:00 to 2:00 then you are doing it at 1:00. The reason they sound strange to me is that you are using the past progressive with an exact moment in time which infers a short time duration, but then you expand that duration of time to somethng that suggests the peterite simple rather than the past progressive.
Also why they sound strange to me because they are illogical statements. They sound like If A, Then B statements in Logic 101 where A implies B. And, of course, in these statement A definitinitly does not impy B.
I know you didn't want reasons so just ignore mine.

I can see people saying the party started at 12:00 and finished at 14:00,and of course party automatically means a good time.

On sentence 5, The use of the word having instead of taking a shower makes it foreing (to me).
When answering the questions, I tried not to think since all you wanted was to know if it sounded natural or foreing . You did not ask for corrections.
I been in country for 48 years and speaking , and reading English for 47 years.so, I wanted to see how my speaking patterns were similar to Americans.

I did not do too badly, but ladydi answers scared me. But, the explanations of the other people,showed me that my use of English is pretty much the same as Americans.

Pergolesi said:

IAs Janice points out, you don't say you "finished" wearing a shirt or getting home, and you probably wouldn't say you "finished" having a good time either, though you can say you finished speaking at a particular time.

Excellent! That's what I hoped to hear from you. And why do you think you can't say finish wearing a shirt when you take it off'