Past Continuous Tense

-

 


The past continuous describes actions or events in a time before now, which began in the past and were still going on when another event occurred.

අතීතයේ ආරම්භ වූ සහ තවත් සිදුවීමක් සිදු වූ විටත් සිදුවෙමින් පවතින, මීට පෙර කාලයක ක්‍රියා හෝ සිදුවීම් විස්තර කරයි.

It is used:

  • Often, to describe the background in a story written in the past tense, e.g. "The sun was shining and the birds were singing as the elephant came out of the jungle. The other animals were relaxing in the shade of the trees, but the elephant moved very quickly. She was looking for her baby, and she didn't notice the hunter who was watching her through his binoculars. When the shot rang out, she was running towards the river..."

  • බොහෝ විට, අතීත කාලයෙන් ලියන ලද කතාවක පසුබිම විස්තර කිරීමට, උදා. “අලියා කැලයෙන් එළියට එන විට හිරු බබළමින් කුරුල්ලන් ගායනා කළහ. අනෙක් සතුන් ගස් සෙවණෙහි විවේක ගනිමින් සිටියද ඇතා ඉතා වේගයෙන් ගමන් කළේය. ඇය තම දරුවා සොයමින් සිටියාය, නමුත් ඇය එසේ කළේ නැත. තම දුරදක්නයෙන් ඇය දෙස බලා සිටි දඩයක්කාරයා බලන්න, වෙඩි හඬ නාද වන විට ඇය ගඟ දෙසට දුවමින් සිටියාය..."


  • to describe an unfinished action that was interrupted by another event or action, e.g. "I was having a beautiful dream when the alarm clock rang."

  • වෙනත් සිදුවීමක් හෝ ක්‍රියාවක් මගින් බාධා කරන ලද නිම නොකළ ක්‍රියාවක් විස්තර කිරීමට, උදා. "එලාම් ඔරලෝසුව නාද වන විට මම ලස්සන සිහිනයක් දකිමි."



  • to express a change of mind: e.g. "I was going to spend the day at the beach but I've decided to get my homework done instead."

  • මනසේ වෙනසක් ප්‍රකාශ කිරීමට: උදා. "මම දවස ගත කරන්න හිටියේ වෙරළේ නමුත් ඒ වෙනුවට මගේ ගෙදර වැඩ කරන්න මම තීරණය කළා."


  • with 'wonder', to make a very polite request: e.g. "I was wondering if you could baby-sit for me tonight."

  • 'පුදුම' සමඟින්, ඉතා ආචාරශීලී ඉල්ලීමක් කිරීමට: උදා. "මම කල්පනා කලේ ඔයාට අද රෑ මට බබා වාඩි වෙන්න පුලුවන්ද කියලා."


Positive: I was playing at the ground when they arrived.

Question: Were you playing at the ground when they arrived ?

Negative: I was not playing at the ground when they arrived.

Negative/Question: Weren’t you playing at the ground when they arrived ?


Positive: He was repairing the vehicle when the battery exploded.

Question: Was he repairing the vehicle when the battery exploded ?

Negative: He was not repairing the vehicle when the battery exploded.

Negative/Question: Wasn’t he repairing the vehicle when the battery exploded ?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Be verbs

-
  Be verbs "Be verbs" do not show an action. "Be verbs" show a state of being. They act like an equals sign (=) in maths. "Be verbs" are usually followed by a noun or an adjective. A noun is a person, place, thing, or thing. An adjective is a word that describes a noun like big, small, happy, fast, interesting, and annoying. Simple present tense "be verbs" are - am, is, are. "Be verbs" ක්‍රියාවක් නොපෙන්වයි. "Be verbs" යන්නෙන් පෙන්නුම් කරන්නේ පවතින තත්වයක්. ඔවුන් ගණිතයේ සමාන ලකුණක් (=) ලෙස ක්රියා කරයි. "Be verbs" සාමාන්යයෙන් නාම පදයක් හෝ විශේෂණයක් අනුගමනය කරයි. නාම පදයක් යනු පුද්ගලයෙකු, ස්ථානයක්, දෙයක් හෝ දෙයකි. විශේෂණ පදයක් යනු big, small, happy, fast, interesting, and annoying වැනි නාම පදයක් විස්තර කරන වචනයකි. සරල වර්තමාන කාල "be verbs" යනු - am, is, are. Subject + be verb + noun/adjective The verb "to be" changes depending on the subject of the sentence. Put "am" after the subject I. ...
Read more

Usage of "should" in speaking

-
 The modal verb "should" is used in speaking to convey several different ideas: Advice or Recommendation: "Should" is commonly used to give advice or make recommendations.    - "You should see a doctor if you're feeling unwell."    - "I think you should apologize to her for what you said." Expectation or Probability: "Should" can indicate what is expected or likely to happen.    - "The train should arrive at 3:00 PM, but there could be delays."    - "He should know the answer; he's been studying all week." Obligation or Duty: "Should" can express a sense of obligation or duty, although it is not as strong as "must."    - "I should finish this report before the deadline."    - "We should help those in need whenever we can." Conditional Statements: "Should" is often used in conditional statements to express what is expected to happen under certain conditions.   ...
Read more

Future Perfect Continuous Tense

-
Image
  We use the future perfect continuous form when we are looking back to the past from a point in the future and we want to emphasise the length or duration of an activity or event: අනාගතයේ යම් කාලයකදී සිදුවෙමින් පැවතී අවසන් වන ක්‍රියාවක් ප්‍රකාශ කිරීමට In September the head teacher will have been teaching at the school for 20 years. In June, she will have been living in France for a year. I will have been studying English for three years by the end of this course. We’re late. I think they ’ll have been waiting for us. We’d better go. Positive : In March, I will have been learning English for 2 years. Question : Will you have been learning English for 2 years ? Negative : I will not have been learning English for 2 years. Negative Question : Won’t you have been learning English for 2 years ? Positive : She will have been waiting for us . Question : Will she have been waiting for us ? Negative : She will not have been waiting for us . Negative Question : Won’t she have been wait...
Read more