Grammar/ Vocabulary question?

Question

"Los españoles odiaron la regla francesa." y "los espanoles batallaron contra la regla francesa"

My teacher circled the words "odiaron" and "batallaron"--any ideas why? maybe the word is used in the wrong context? These sentences were from an essay I wrote.

Answer 1

The sentences make sense as written, so my guess is that your teacher was looking for the imperfect tense rather than the preterite tense of those verbs, "odiaban" and "batallaban," but I am not a native Spanish speaker, so don't take my word for it.

If I were you, I'd ask the teacher.

I agree with you "imperfect is needed" Because they used to do it over a period of time. - jphip, Apr 2, 2014

It seems likely that this is what the teacher is alluding to so I think you are right:) - FELIZ77, Apr 3, 2014

They don;t make sense without anymore context. The tense is wrong. - chileno, Apr 3, 2014

i asked my teacher :) and she said those words were not appropriate for research essays. - englishespanol, Apr 3, 2014

but isn't the preterite used when it's the main focus? like if I said "I walked to the store"--walk would be in the preterite? - englishespanol, Apr 3, 2014

Englishespañol, did the teacher say why those verbs aren't appropriate or did she suggest what verbs might take their place? - AnnRon, Apr 3, 2014

That's why I am asking for the English version. I want to know what he had in mind when he wrote that. - chileno, Apr 4, 2014

"the spanish hated the french rule" and "the spanish battled against the french rule" - englishespanol, Apr 5, 2014

Answer 2

If this is a try of yours and you want to know if it is correct, I would suggest you also write the English counterpart.

Thanks.