jueves, 13 de noviembre de 2014

In the field of Information Technology, it is necessary to establish a difference between Past Simple and Past Continuous, not only in their structure but also in their use. After watching the videos from Cambridge University Press with Prof. Anna about Past Simple (click here) and Past Continuous (click here), can you explain what are the differences between such verbal tenses, providing examples from the field of IT (Information Technology)?

40 comentarios:

  1. Este comentario ha sido eliminado por el autor.

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  2. The simple past is used to talk about a specific action that began and ended in the past.
    -He was not good at programming.

    And we use the past continuous to talk about a specific action that began and ended in the past but had a continuous period until another action interrupted.

    -Jonathan was teaching students to install Ubuntu for only 30 Bs.


    Robert De Abreu CI: 19.387.292

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    1. Well, an action in that is happening in a specific moment in the past can not be interrupted by another action. An action in past continuous has not ended, really. Thank you for your answer, Robert.

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  3. The simple past is an action that ends in the past.
    Example: She arrived ten minutes ago

    The past continuous is an action that does not indicate whether this completed
    Example: he was playing football
    However It’s common to see both statements in one sentence.
    Example: Peter broke his leg when he was playing football

    Darwing Gonzalez,
    Trayecto: 4
    Ing Informatica

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    1. Hello Darwing, The action in past continous is ocurring in a momento of the past, it has not ended yet. You also had to write some sentences related to the Information Technology. Thank you for your participation.

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  4. Past Simple is used to describe actions that have happened in an earlier or past tense and who have completed.
    For example
    1.- Michael worked teaching programming at the university.
    Moreover Past Continuous describes actions that were being made at a time of the past referred to and then continued.
    For Example:
    1.-She was formatting your computer, when the power went out.
    2.-She was still formatting her computer at 9 o'clock last night
    Trayecto IV
    Flores Jesus C.I 24.923.847
    Furlan Ruben C.I 24.207.071
    Gonazalez Billy C.I 21.134.094
    Leal Yanuel C.I 20.746.625
    Rodrigues Aliana C.I 20.410.595
    Rojas Dayrlin C.I 20.308.433

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    1. Hello Dayrlin and her group,
      Yes, but remember that we use "who" only to refer to people. In addition to say that Past Continous is used to talk about actions that continued, they were happening at a certain moment of the past. Thank you for your participation.

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  6. The continuous past expresses the duration of a past action and does not indicate if it is completed, while the simple past refers to a punctual action that began and ended in the past
    The simple past describes finished action and the continuous past does not specify if the actions completed or not, they emphasized that they were developing

    Example

    Past simple
    Jesus modify the module users last Tuesday

    Example
    Past Continuous

    I was having problems with the module user yesterday

    Jesus Maita C.I. 18238547
    Trayecto: 4

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    1. Hello Jesus, when we use past continuous the action has not been completed. It does not refer to the duration of the action.. Your example in past simple is not correct due to the fact that the verb you wrote is in present. Thank you for your participation.

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  7. The past continuous duration expresses a past action and does not indicate if it is completed

    For example:
    - Yesterday install the computer

    While the simple past refers to a specific action that began and ended in the past.

    For example:
    - The network was slow last night

    Valentina Jimenez C.I:18.467.434
    Diego Morales C.I:18.466.662

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    1. Hello mates,
      well, more than that: the pst continous indicate that the action was occuring at a specific moment in the past. Your example in past continous does not refer to the past continuous: you wrote the verb in present! Thank you for your participation.

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  8. Good Evening Teacher

    - We use the past simple to describe an action in the past that's event completed.
    For Example:
    1. I work like technical support now before that I worked in a network support company
    2. Windows XP was one of the best operating systems for low-capacity equipment

    - We use the past continuous when we wanted to talk about the action in the past at the set time and an action that's started but not finish.
    For Example:

    1. I was working in my project called Management System for Project
    2. I was installing the operating system Yosemite the past week

    Juan J. Jiménez J.
    C.I. V-10.579.953
    Trayecto 4

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    1. you are right, Juan, even though this idea has to be corrected to be clear enough: "an action in the past that's event completed". Your examples are well written and related to the IT field. Thank you,

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  9. the past simple is used to talk about a finished action in the past, often with time expressions like yesterday, last week, a year ago etc.
    Also is used when one action happens after another.

    On the other hand, the past continuous is used to express an action in progress at a particular time in the past, also is commonly used for an interrupted action in the past


    Past Simple example

    -When they arrived, Erick programmed the security module. -Erick started programming the module after they arrived.-

    Past Continuous example

    -When they arrived, Erick was programming the security module. -Erick started programming the module before they arrived.-

    Trayecto 3
    Seccion: Obs

    Erick Alviarez
    Joan Monterrey
    Julio Zerpa
    Yohan Mercedes -from trayecto 4-

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    1. Hello mates,
      well, the sentence "Erick started programming the module before they arrived" is not really an example of Past Continuous, it is in Past Simple tense. You also missed the example in the case you mentioned when Past Continous "is commonly used for an interrupted action in the past". Thank you for your participation.

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  10. We use the Simple Past to express the idea that an action started and finished at a specific time in the past.

    Very often, the past simple ends in -ed (regular verbs)

    Example using regular verbs:
    She passed her Cisco certification because she studied very hard.

    But many verbs are irregular. The past simple does not end in -ed.

    Example using irregular verbs:

    Last week I wrote some PHP scripts.



    We use the past continuous to say that somebody was in the middle of doing something at a certain time. The action or situation had already started before this time but had not finished.

    was or were + a verbs with ing is the past continuous.

    Example:

    - They were doing to many changes in the server.

    Francisco González
    Ali Zapata

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    1. completing the last sentence.

      -They were doing too many changes at the server, when system failed.

      Francisco González
      Ali Zapata

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    2. Yes, that is correct. Thank you for your participation, Sirs.

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  11. Jesús,
    As it was stated in the videos, we use the past simple and the past continuous to talk about actions or events in the past. The differences between such verbal tenses are in that we use the past simple to describe an action, situation or event in the past that have been completed, and the past continuous when we want to talk about being in the middle of an action in the past, at a certain time.
    Examples:
    The past simple:
    a) Glen created a full backup of the database.
    b) Damelys restored the database system.
    The past continuous:
    a) Yesterday at 08:00 Glen was creating a full backup of the database.
    b) At 10:00 Damelys was restoring the database system.

    We often use the past continuous and the past simple together to say that something happened in the middle of something else. For example:
    “I updated the system while I was checking Maria’s computer”.
    “The system was requesting for an update after she turned the computer on”

    But we use the past simple to say that one thing happened after another. For example:
    “Ever was installing an antivirus software on Maria’s computer when he found out a virus on the system. So he finished up the process and deleted the virus”.

    It’s important to say that there are some verbs that we do not normally use with continuous tenses. We usually use the following verbs with simple tenses only (not continuous tenses): hate, like, love, need, prefer, want, wish, believe, imagine, know, mean, realize, recognize, remember, suppose, understand, belong, concern, consist, contain, depend, involve, matter, need, owe, own, possess, appear, resemble, seem, hear, see.
    Example:
    “The computer was infected. Maria was needing support. (Not Correct)
    “The computer was infected. Maria needed support”. (Correct)

    Best regards,
    José Galifi
    Ever Rivero
    Glen González
    Damelys Dugarte

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    1. I don't have any correction to make... Good work, classmates! It is clear and easy to read. Thank you for your participation.

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  12. The Past Simple
    The past simple describes past actions.

    The sentence structure when is affirmative: subject +verb in past + object.
    The verb to be in past was o were. For first and third person of singular (I, he, she, it) are used was and for we, you, they are used were.

    Marco worked at the bank as database administrator (regular verb)

    Robert fixed the hard disk (regular verb)

    Marlon went to maracay set-up a network (irregular verb)

    The programs of third generation were developed 20 years ago (verb to be)

    When is a question, its used the auxiliary did + subject + verb in infinitve + object and negative sentence subject +didn´t + verb in infinitive + object.

    Did Marco work at the bank as database administrator?

    Marco didn´t work at the bank as database administrator.

    Did Roberto fix the hard disk?

    Roberto didn´t fix the hard disk.

    Did Marlon go to other city put a computer network?

    Marlon didn´t go to other city put a computer network

    The programs of third generation were developed 20 years ago (verb to be)

    Were the programs of third genartion developed 20 years ago?

    The programs of third genartion weren´t developed 20 years ago.


    the Past Continuous to indicate that a longer action in the past was interrupted. The interruption is usually a shorter action in the Simple Past.

    Affirmative was/were + present participle (verb + ing)
    Negative wasn't/weren't + present participle (verb + ing)

    Marco was work on the project when the database server went off
    what was he doing when the database stopped one hour ago

    Robert was fixing the hard drive but the network switch is slowing down
    what roberto was fixing when the network went down this morning

    he were going to maracay and the police stop him suddenly at the hi-way
    where he was going when the policy stop him last week?

    they were developing software using C++ when the library was clear by the system administrator by misstake
    what where they doing when the system administrator was clearing the library yesterday?

    Mayra was buying a new server when the new cpu was available on the market two month ago
    what they were buying when the new cpu was available?

    Participantes:
    Katherin Longa V-18329570
    Marco Torres V-13139463
    Carolina Isturiz V-9488713
    Giovanna Ortiz V-18994045
    Marlon Romero V-18330284

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    1. well, the following sentence is incomplete as it does not have a verb after the subject: "the Past Continuous to indicate that a longer action in the past was interrupted". This sentence is also grammatically incorrect: "he were going to maracay and the police stop him suddenly at the hi-way". You focused mostly in the grammar structure and missed the difference in the use of the two verbal tenses.

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    2. Thank you for your participation.

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  13. The Simple Past
    We can find a lot of ways to talk in past but the simple past is the common way. The simple past describes actions that happened and was completed in the past. It use regular (verbs ends ED) and irregular verbs. for example:

    - Linux developed a kernel as a free operating system for Intel x86-based personal computers.
    - I used a BPM platform for my university project.
    - Technology changed other aspects of everyday life.
    - We work at development area. Before that we worked as database administrator.


    The Past Continuous

    We use the past continuous to talk about the past and it describes actions that was started but that not has finished yet.

    - Ian Morris noticed that Chrome for Windows was using considerably more power than other browsers.
    - Java web application was running fine on the development Window XP.
    - Apache web server was failing to pass the http environment variables in that development.

    The difference between the simple past and the continuous past is the moment when the actions has been completed. The actions in the simple past is completely finished but the continuous past did not has finished yet.


    Oriana Römer
    Anyi Rivas
    Leonardo Salas
    Francisco Scaduto
    Josué Mosquera
    Diego Morales
    Janitze Jiménez
    Antony Delgado

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    1. Hello classmates,
      Good work. Well, remember the third person "it uses" instead of "it use". Think about correcting this sentence you have written: "We use the past continuous to talk about the past and it describes actions that was started but that not has finished yet." Take it as a homework, dear classmates.

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  14. Good evening Professor.

    To differentiate between the past simple and past continuous , we must say that the first one is used to describe an action or event in the past that have been completed , however , the past continuous is used when we want to talk about an action in the past at a certain time, an action that has started but not finished.

    Which means that the past continuous is used when we want to talk about being in the middle of an action, and the past simple is used when we want to talk about a situation that has been completed. For example:

    Laura worked at Microsoft last year, she was using SharePoint to develop websites.

    The first part of that sentence represent the past simple because Laura is no longer an employee of that company, and mention the use of SharePoint tool during her stay in Microsoft represents the past continuous.


    Bonsanto, Argenio CI: 19.391.734
    Carrasquel, Barbara CI: 20.748.368
    Montes, Mario CI: 17.768.432
    Molina, Jonarver CI: 19.933.139
    Tovar, Yeltsing CI: 21.467.440
    Vera, Joshua CI: 19.477.887

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    1. Yes, that is right. Think of correcting this sentence (I mean the grammar mistakes): "the first one is used to describe an action or event in the past that have been completed". Next, the sentence that starts with "Which means that the past continuous..." should be joined to the previous sentence. Thank you for your participation.

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  15. The difference between the past simple and past continuous is whether the event happened (simple past) or was happening at a given time (past continuous).

    For example,
    I formatted several computers over the weekend. (Past simple)
    I was formatting several computers over the weekend (Past continuous).

    As can be seen in the simple past irregular or regular "ed" verb is used.
    In the past continuous is conjugated with the verb "to be" and action verb with the ending "ing".

    Jonathan Mangarret.
    C.I. 16.012.324

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    1. Yes. Then we use past continuous at a specific time in the past. Thank you for yor participation, Sir.

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  16. Simple past is used to refer to an action that start and end in the past had.

    Unlike past continuous is used to refer to an action that had started in the past without mentioning its end

    Examples:

    Past Simple
    Manuel went to the cinema yesterday to watch a horror movie


    Past Continuous
    Fabian was working all day yesterday.

    Leidy Rico
    CI. : 19930797

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    1. hello Leidy,
      well, when you say that "past continuous is used to refer to an action that had started in the past without mentioning its end" is because it has not finished. And what about using sentences related to Information Technology? Thank you for your participation.

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  17. Good night teacher.

    After watching and listening to the videos could deduce the following:
    The past continuous duration expresses a past action and does not indicate if it is completed, while the simple past refers to a specific action that began and ended in the past.

    examples of the past simple:
    - He was not good at redes
    - i programmed in pascal
    - yesterday, we didn't come early at our programming practice
    examples of the past continuous
    - When I arrived at her house she was programming.
    - She was programming all day yesterday.
    - They were repairing computers when the phone rang.

    Cristian Rojas
    CI. : 19388996

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    1. Hello Cristian,
      Well, the past continuous does not indicate "if it is completed" because it refers to an action happening at a certain moment in the past. Thank you for your participation.

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  18. Both the past simple and the past continuous refer to completed actions in the past. Most of the time when we are talking about such actions, we use the past simple. This is by far the most common way of talking about the past. Only use the past continuous when you want to emphasize the continuity of the action.

    Note the difference between these two sentences from the story:

    I formatted my laptop yesterday
    Yesterday at six o'clock, i was formatting my laptop.

    The past simple in the first sentence expresses a momentary, completed action, whereas the past continuous in the second sentence expresses an action in progress. Here is another example for the same contrast:

    I programmed this weekend in my project. (completed action)
    i was programming in my project this weekend. (action in progress)

    Notice too the important difference between these two sentences.

    When they arrived, Jeff tested the system.
    When they arrived, Jeff was testing the system.

    Brisleydi Calderon
    CI:19.594.403
    Trayecto 4 OBS

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    1. Excuse me but it seems you take the information from another source; you had to write it yourself from the videos and the verbal tenses studied in class. For example, what did you mean by this: "Notice too the important difference between these two sentences"? Thank you for your participation.

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  19. the Simple Past:
    The verb tense is used to narrate events that occurred at a specific time in the past.

    The past continuous is used to talk about things in the past at the time that were doing

    Example.

    Mario created a backup file (Simple Past)

    Sunday at 3 o'clock Mario was creating a backup file (past continuous)

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    1. Hello Mario,
      Excuse me, but the simple past tense is not used for "events that ocurred at a specific time in the past". For this type of actions we use the present continous. See you,

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  20. We have met the deadline...Time is over! Thank you for your participation in this activity.

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