‘We had a great time together’
‘We were having great time.’
Can u tell me wt is d diffrence between this two sentenses?
The first simply states the past accomplishment. The second indicates the duration of the pleasantry, during which something else happened; this second event must be indicated in the context or otherwise mutually understood-- if not, your second statement is a fragment and is incorrect.
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The first senetence in the past tense
action happened and finished in the past
the second one in the present continous but it used rarely in English
the past continous not present sorry thanks to Mister Micawber
Hi Mica,
Could you please explain this in detail.
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Sorry, Rfaleet, but your answer is wrong. The second one is past continuous, and it is in frequent use.
Owikyss, the point is that past continuous is used to create the environment for another past action (for example: We were having a great time until the police arrived). Without some reference to another past action, the past continuous verb form does not complete a statement.
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thanks. that makes me aware of my past continuous usage which i didn’t previously.
Yes thats right past continuous bot present
I mean that were having
to add ing to the verb have is rare in English not used frequently
but past continous in general is used frequently
Thanks Mister Micawber
I really don’t like having to say this, Rfaleet, but that statement isn’t actually correct either. The word “having” is not at all rare in English. In fact, it is very commonly used. Just try googling the word “having” and see what you get. Ms Google gave me 737,000,000 (that’s 737 million!) results for the word “having”.
Here are some examples – and it really wasn’t difficult to come up with them:
- They are having a great time in Hawaii.
- We were having dinner when he arrived.
- He was having a private conversation with Jenny when George came barging in.
- I am having my hair done this afternoon.
- He has been having a lot of trouble with his car lately.
- Having a baby is a miraculous experience.
- After having to wait for two hours, I finally got in to see the doctor.
Having said all that, I think I know what you were trying to say. The verb “have” is often used with a meaning similar to “own” or “possess”, for example, in which case it is usually used in a simple tense rather than in a continuous tense.
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Rfaleet, the verb “have” has more than one meaning. In its basic meaning, “to possess”, it is a stative verb and is not used in the continuous tenses.
However, “have” can also be an action verb, as in “to have dinner”, “to have friends at our home”, “to have a good time”. In those three phrases, the word “have” means “eat”, “host” and “enjoy”, respectively. It has other action-related meanings as well.
Children often come home and say, “What are we having for dinner?”
People might say, “If you’re having a problem with your packages, I’ll help you carry them.”
Sometimes changing the verb tense changes the meaning. Look at these two conversations:
He: “Would you like to go out with me tonight?”
She: “No, thank you. I have a headache.”
(She means that she’s sick and her head hurts.)
He: “Would you like to go out with me tonight?”
She: “No, thank you. I’m having a headache.”
(She is being sarcastic and telling him that she’s pretending to be sick because she doesn’t want to go out with him.)
Mr expert , if i want to change this sentence into passive :
Tom has a car.
What is the best answer , it’s correct to say
A car is had by Tom .
but because it’s used rarely we say another one which is best
A car is owned by Tom
In that case, you can’t make the sentence passive, Rfaleet, because only action verbs can be put into the passive, and in that sentence “has” is not an action verb.
both of the two sentences talk about something happend in the past and finished
in 1st one you talk about something happened in shot time such as a walk , adrive , day out.
in the socand you talk about something was happening for a long time such as a 4 weeks holiday , a period of former studying.