Posted by rfvv on Saturday, September 12, 2015 at 7:55am.
She was sitting in the train.
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Is she moving to sit down in the train?
Or she sat before and now she remains seated in the train?
English - Writeacher, Saturday, September 12, 2015 at 8:05am
She was sitting in the train.
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Or she sat before and she continued to remain seated in the train?
This is the effect of the past continuous tense. She sat (in the past) and remained seated (still in the past). (In the present, she is not necessarily still there!)
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Thank you for your help.
2. She was sitting in the train now.
3. She was sitting down in the train now.
4. When I go on the train, she was just sitting on the seat.
5. When I go on the train, she was just sitting down on the seat.
6. When I go on the train, she was sitting on the seat.
(What about those sentences? Is she in the process of sitting down now?)
"She was sitting on the train" would mean she was already seated. If she was about to sit down, we would say that. If she was trying to find a place to sit on the train, we would say that. To say someone is "sitting" means she is not in the act of sitting down, but that she is already sitting there.
To determine whether she is in the process of sitting down or already seated, we need to analyze the sentences you provided:
2. She was sitting in the train now.
In this sentence, the use of "was sitting" indicates that she was already seated in the train at the past moment being referred to. The word "now" at the end is confusing because it suggests the present moment, but the verb tense used ("was sitting") indicates the past. It would be more appropriate to say "She is sitting in the train now," if you are referring to the present.
3. She was sitting down in the train now.
Similar to the previous sentence, the use of "was sitting" indicates that she was already seated in the train at the past moment being referred to. The addition of "down" does not necessarily indicate the process of sitting down, but rather emphasizes that she was in a seated position. Again, if you are referring to the present moment, it would be more accurate to say "She is sitting down in the train now."
4. When I go on the train, she was just sitting on the seat.
In this sentence, the use of "was just sitting" indicates that she was already seated on the seat when you arrived on the train. The phrase "when I go on the train" suggests that the action of going on the train is happening in the past, and at that moment, she was already seated on the seat.
5. When I go on the train, she was just sitting down on the seat.
In this sentence, the use of "was just sitting down" suggests that she was in the process of sitting down on the seat when you arrived on the train. The phrase "when I go on the train" indicates that the action of going on the train is happening in the past, and at that moment, she was in the process of sitting down on the seat.
6. When I go on the train, she was sitting on the seat.
Similar to sentence 4, this sentence suggests that she was already seated on the seat when you arrived on the train. The use of "was sitting" indicates a completed action in the past.
Overall, sentences 2, 3, and 6 indicate that she was already seated on the train. Sentence 4 suggests that she was already seated on the seat, and sentence 5 implies that she was in the process of sitting down on the seat.