Why is unsuitable?

Question

I need some help here, with the next tenses:

a) While I had a bath, someone knocked on the door.

b) Sally didn't go to a boxing match before.

Why is unsuitable, a next, how I could write it correctly?

Thanks.

Welcome to the forum. - SpanishPal, Aug 1, 2011

Hola Animale, welcome to the forum - unsuitable no tiene sentido en este caso, quizas puede decir - 'Why is this wrong?" ") para servirte - Kiwi-Girl, Aug 1, 2011

Hola, lo que pasa es que así salía en el libro donde estoy estudiando Inglés, tal vez porque es británico, aparece esa palabra. - Animalescus, Aug 1, 2011

ah ok entonces necesitará utilizar 'this' - Why is 'this' unsuitable? o más común Why would this be an unsuitable choice? :) - Kiwi-Girl, Aug 1, 2011

Creo que tienes razón y me faltó colocar "this" en la pregunta. Thanks - Animalescus, Aug 1, 2011

de nada :) - Kiwi-Girl, Aug 1, 2011

Answer 1

You have two actions in the past. One was happening and the other cut it off or happened while the first was going on.

In this case, the first action takes past progressive and the action that cuts it off takes simple past. so...

While I was having (or taking) a bath, someone knocked on the door.

So past progressive and past perfect rarely stand alone in a sentence. They are always connected with the simple past. Here's the relation.... the simple past cuts off the past progressive and the past perfect happens before the past tense. ( I had taken a bath before someone knocked on the door)

The second sentence. b) Sally didn't go to a boxing match before.

Here you should use the present perfect. Sally has never gone to a boxing match before or Sally hasn't gone to a boxing match before. The former sounds more natural.

Why present perfect? Because she never went to a boxing match in the past and till this moment in the present she has not done so. So it's an action that started in the past and continues in the present.

I hope that helped.

nice :) - Kiwi-Girl, Aug 1, 2011

Thank you, I'm glad with your answer. - Animalescus, Aug 1, 2011

I'm happy with your answer :) - Kiwi-Girl, Aug 1, 2011

You're welcome :) - SpanishPal, Aug 1, 2011

Thanks Kiwi - SpanishPal, Aug 1, 2011

de nada :) - Kiwi-Girl, Aug 1, 2011