I often see the sentence that "(subject) was (verb+ing)",such as "He was dying","He was drowning".What kind of verbs can we use in this sentence?

Question

I often see the sentence that "(subject) was (verb+ing)",such as "He was dying","He was drowning".What kind of verbs can we use  in this sentence?

Kitkat23 · Answer

It's very common. I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "what kind of verbs" (for example, do you mean verb tense? verb transitivity? etc.) but I will try to answer!

Verbs with no object:

"I was dancing."
"He was sleeping."
"Were you crying?"

Verbs with an object:

"She was making bread."
"I was watching TV."
"We were eating cookies."

Verbs with an indirect object:

"He was sending me letters."
"She was giving us money."
"I was teaching her Spanish."

Verbs with prepositions:

"I was dreaming about cars."
"He was talking to his mom."
"The storm was moving toward us."

I hope I understood your question :)

Kitkat23 · Answer

@yuuuki99 Hmm...

I'm not sure exactly what these are called...Maybe they are "dynamic verbs" and "stative verbs"?

Here is a description I found on a grammar website:

"Verbs in English can be classified into two categories: stative verbs and dynamic verbs. Dynamic verbs (sometimes referred to as "action verbs") usually describe actions we can take, or things that happen; stative verbs usually refer to a state or condition which is not changing or likely to change. The difference is important, because stative verbs cannot normally be used in the continuous (BE + ING) forms."

Kitkat23 · Answer

Actually, I think I misunderstood your question lol. This is difficult for me to answer haha.

In the case of "he was dying", you don't know if he died or not until I tell you more. I can say "He was dying, but the doctor saved him, so now he is okay." Or I can say "He was dying, and the doctor couldn't save him. He died 3 days later."

However, I don't think it really changes the grammar. It's just that dancing is something that a person can start or stop doing when they want to, and dying is something that can start or stop but it can happen regardless of the person's intention.

"He was dying" is still grammatically correct even if you don't know the result.

Sorry, this is very complicated!!

Kitkat23 · Answer

I will try to give some examples of different processes that have a beginning, middle, and end.

1. to melt: 
completely frozen - start melting - half-melted - completely melted

2. to fall asleep:
completely awake - start falling asleep - half-asleep - completely asleep

When you say "was melting" or "was falling asleep" you are talking about those middle half-stages that can either stop, continue, or reverse.

The snow was melting. (maybe it melted completely, or maybe it stopped melting. You don't know until I say more.)

I was falling asleep. (maybe I fell asleep, or maybe I woke up. You don't know until I say more.)

---
"was melting"

I looked outside and I saw the snow was melting. However, by night time, the snow was frozen again. (it started melting, but then stopped melting)

I looked outside and I saw the snow was melting. By morning there was no snow anymore. (it started melting, and continued melting until it finished)

I looked outside and I saw the snow was melting. Then I drank a cup of tea. (the snow started melting. You don't know the result because maybe it's not important in the story. You just know that I drank a cup of tea at the same time that the snow was melting.)

---
"was falling asleep"

I was falling asleep when I heard a loud noise that woke me up. (I was starting to fall asleep but the loud noise stopped me from sleeping.)

My brother said I was falling asleep at 7pm, and that at 8pm he found me sleepwalking! (I was starting to fall asleep at 7pm, and sometime between 7pm and 8pm I fell completely asleep)

I was falling asleep when my dad got home from work. (You don't know if I woke up when my dad came home or if I continued to fall asleep. Maybe I heard him and woke up, or maybe I fell asleep completely and I found out the next day that that he came home when I was sleeping. Maybe it's not important to the story so I didn't tell you.)

Kitkat23 · Answer

@yuuuki99 Sorry I got confused and wrote a super long post haha. But I am glad it helped a little bit. Good luck with your studies!! :)

I often see the sentence that "(subject) was (verb+ing)",such as "He was dying","He was drowning".What kind of verbs can we use in this sentence? See a translation

@yuuuki99 Sorry I got confused and wrote a super long post haha. But I am glad it helped a little bit. Good luck with your studies!! :)

I often see the sentence that "(subject) was (verb+ing)",such as "He was dying","He was drowning".What kind of verbs can we use in this sentence?

See a translation