Today's lesson: contemporary slang and its corruptive influence on society.

( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Wed 21 Sep 2011, 9:21, 1 reply)

Sorry to be obtuse (?) but what's the problem with that sentence?

(McChinaman banned, Wed 21 Sep 2011, 9:33, closed)

The classes I were teaching.
Their, thats bettor.
( Ghoti Fingers, Wed 21 Sep 2011, 9:47, closed)

The classes I taught
Sorry, for it is I that is being obtuse.

I have nothing decent to contribute so I pointlessly comment on other people's stories.
(Galahad is out of his gourd on yellow bentines, Wed 21 Sep 2011, 9:51, closed)

That's a different tense, though.

( Ghoti Fingers, Wed 21 Sep 2011, 9:56, closed)

I like how this started about me leching on students and became a debate about grammar.

(McChinaman banned, Wed 21 Sep 2011, 10:08, closed)

Leching on?
Leching after, surely?
( Ghoti Fingers, Wed 21 Sep 2011, 10:13, closed)

:-)

(McChinaman banned, Wed 21 Sep 2011, 10:15, closed)

Lechering
the classes I was lechering

that's betterer
( hugo-a-gogo has no sig, the gayer, Wed 21 Sep 2011, 10:24, closed)

Surely it's a situational imperfect for the subordinate preterite of the action?

( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Wed 21 Sep 2011, 10:30, closed)

Pfffffffff.
No one says imperfect anymore. I see it as the past continuous in the noun phrase because the classes were a continuous action at the time of the story. That's why we use the past continuous to set the scene at the beginning of a narrative.
( The Awful Puppy Bakery is still bored, Wed 21 Sep 2011, 10:35, closed)

^^^ This

(McChinaman banned, Wed 21 Sep 2011, 10:53, closed)

I was walking down the street one day,
I saw a house on fire.
There was a man shouting and screaming from the top floor,
For he was sore afraid.

BRING BACK THE IMPERFECT! Brought to you by the Classicist Old Farts Association.
( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Wed 21 Sep 2011, 11:20, closed)

Oh, don't get me wrong.
I understand we still need to use imperfect to describe the mood of some past verbal phrases, but I feel that no one uses it to describe subject+was/were+present participle anymore.
( The Awful Puppy Bakery is still bored, Wed 21 Sep 2011, 11:40, closed)

well
Monster munch and Janet Aylia have a new friend then
(andythepieman Is surfing the waves of indifference on, Thu 22 Sep 2011, 11:50, closed)

You're in the wrong job.

( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Wed 21 Sep 2011, 10:08, closed)

Yes, it was a different "job" that he was thinking about

(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Wed 21 Sep 2011, 10:54, closed)

it was a diferante job and any way it was a long time ago

( fluffybunnykiller Is feasting on the clitoris of life, Wed 21 Sep 2011, 13:07, closed)