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Basically, I asked two teachers about this sentence "I was working for 2 hours". One told that it is incorrect because the past continuous needs some additional context like "I was working for two hours when I saw her". Second said that this sentence is correct because this phrase "2 hours" provides context. Can I get to know your opinion about this sentence?

Laurel
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Bob
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  • The first teacher is wrong. It would need to be I had been working for two hours when I saw her. – Kate Bunting Feb 13 '24 at 12:27
  • Why is that? I want to show that I met her during working not after that. – Bob Feb 13 '24 at 13:21
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    Either (1) "I worked/was working for two hours" (the total time spent working) "and during that time/after an hour/at 3.00 I saw her" or (2) "I had been working for two hours when I saw her" (you may or may not have carried on working afterwards). – Kate Bunting Feb 13 '24 at 13:43
  • @KateBunting: Suppose I was a part-time casual worker who accepted shifts of different lengths, and I'd gone in to work a 2-hour shift yesterday. I could quite reasonably say "I was working for two hours [yesterday afternoon] when I Jane came in the office". That's to say, Jane came in during my 2 hours of work, not after that, as in your version. – FumbleFingers Feb 13 '24 at 13:50
  • What about second sentence. Don't you think it's incomplete? – Bob Feb 13 '24 at 14:01
  • @FumbleFingers - I consider "I was working a two-hour shift yesterday when..." more idiomatic. – Kate Bunting Feb 13 '24 at 15:05
  • Bob - Do you mean my sentence (2)? No. – Kate Bunting Feb 13 '24 at 15:05
  • No mine " I was working for two hours". In my opinion strict grammar rules say that this sentence is incomplete, therefore incorrect? What is your opinion ? – Bob Feb 13 '24 at 15:37
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    I paid you for one hour yesterday, but how long were you working? For how many hours were you working? "I was working for 2 hours." No problem there. – Yosef Baskin Feb 13 '24 at 15:53
  • In conversations, all sorts of things are possible that are not possible in a contextless environment. Question: How long were you working at the plant on that day? Answer: I was working for 2 hours. That is conceivable and grammatical. Is there a when clause lurking in the background? Yes, but it is unspoken here. – Lambie Feb 13 '24 at 16:55
  • To sum it up. We say " what did you do yesterday?" When it is a generall question past continuous almost always except for some uses needs some additional activity which may be just implied so " what were you doing yesterday ( when I came to visit you and no one opened the door) Am I right? – – Bob Feb 13 '24 at 17:16

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I think another question of yours has helped me put my finger on what's awkward in this sentence, and some others like it in other questions of yours. It's not the "when I saw her" part, it's the combination of the simple continuous with a specific measurement. So I think the first teacher was on the right track, but had the wrong suggestion. This would be non-awkward:

I was working there when I saw her.

The activity (working) and the place (there) are mere background, and are vague in duration. Several questions of yours have showed a desire to place "meeting her" at some point during an ongoing event of specific duration (two hours). I'm afraid, to do this, you'll have to turn to alter the sentence structure to make the specific event the subject:

While I was working there for two hours, I saw her.

You could also use any number of other wordings that are clear about the relationships, like:

During my two-hour shift there, I saw her.

BUT the second teacher has a point too. If continuous tenses are about context, that context can be provided by surrounding sentences, or even understood and unstated.

I met her one Tuesday night. I was working late at the office.

If we lifted the second sentence out of its context, the first teacher might complain that context was missing, but in real usage, context can be found outside of a single sentence.

Andy Bonner
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  • To sum it up. We say " what did you do yesterday?" When it is a generall question past continuous almost always except for some uses needs some additional activity which may be just implied so " what were you doing yesterday ( when I came to visit you and no one opened the door) Am I right? – Bob Feb 13 '24 at 17:15
  • Is that right @Andy Bonner? – Bob Feb 13 '24 at 18:07