Are my answers correct to finish the story?

I had a bad accident when I was a child. I was playing in the road with my brother. A car (was coming/came) round the corner. The driver (was going/went) too fast. He (was trying/tried) to stop but he couldn't.Both my legs were broken in the accident.
My answers: (was coming/was going/tried) The last one is especially confusing but my interpretation is that the driver tried to stop once and not that he was trying to stop because this would entail that he was doing the action even before he saw me!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tonyjab,

Hi Tonyjab

I would choose came/was going/tried.

I would choose "came" because it's a relatively quick action, and it is also an action that can be neatly ordered in the events of the story. The use of "was going" is good because that's something that happened longer and it can't be put into a series of events that happened at separate times -- i.e. his speed was too fast both before he went around the corner and also at the time he went around the corner.

But using (came) would suggest that the action ended, which wouldn't set the scene for what came next as would the past progressive. I am really confused

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tonyjab,

Hi Tonyjab

I wouldn't necessarily view that particular piece of the story as simply "scene-setting" information. To me, is an important part of the set of specific, complete actions that make up the story you're telling.

In contrast, "going too fast" does set the scene. "Going too fast" was happening before he came to the corner (i.e. before the main story began) and then "going too fast" continued when he turned the corner.

So, in essence, the series of complete events that make up the main story begins with "a car came round the corner."

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Thanks Amy, would you comment Richrd???

Amy, I think this story is quite related to our subject. What would you choose:
My father is a hero in my village.Two years ago, a lion (escaped/was escaping) from the zoo and (attacked/was attacking) people in the village. One day, my father (walked/was walking) when he (heard/was hearing) a noise from the park.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tonyjab,

Hi Tonyjab

I don't really feel comfortable with your example. It seems choppy to me, no matter which of your two tense options I choose. My instinct is to reword it a bit. Something like this, for example:

My father is a hero in my village because of an event that took place two years ago. A lion had escaped from the zoo and was attacking people in the village. One day, my father was out for a walk when he heard a noise from the park.

I've used the past perfect (had escaped) because clearly that was a complete action which happened before the attacking of people began.

Instead of saying "was out for a walk", you could also say "was taking a walk", for example. What I would not say is "was walking". The meaning of that is much too vague.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: *Amy*,

Amy,I was just waiting for you to choose (attack) instead of (was attacking) so that I could prove my previous point. However, you chose the right answer, which means,unfortunately, that I was wrong by choosing (was coming)!One can never learn everything!

By the way this is an activity in a grammar textbook, not my imagination!

Hi Tonyjab

To me, the choice between a simple tense and a continuous tense in your two examples has less to do with "scene-setting" and more to do with the comparative length of the actions being described.

If I were to use "was coming round the corner", then the reason for that would be that something else happened during all or part of that same time. It would probably be a shorter action that in essence interrupts "coming round the corner". For example:

A car was coming round the corner at high speed when its right front tire suddenly blew out. The driver lost control. The the car slammed into a tree in our front yard and burst into flames.

"The tire blew out" is a VERY short action that interrupts "was coming round the corner". All the other things that follow that are complete actions, in the order that they took place.


Hope that helps.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: *Amy*,