Question Did you run in this park every morning? / Were you running ... every morning?

hirashin · 14 Oct 2020

Dear native English speakers,
is it odd to say,
(a) "Did you run in this park every morning?"

If so, how about this?
(b) Did you run in this park every morning when you lived around here?

And do you ever say,
(c) "Were you running in this park every morning?"

mdchachi · 14 Oct 2020

hirashin said:
Dear native English speakers,
is it odd to say,
(a) "Did you run in this park every morning?"

If so, how about this?
(b) Did you run in this park every morning when you lived around here?

And do you ever say,
(c) "Were you running in this park every morning?"

I think grammatically they are all ok. It's odd in the sense that I can't think of a common reason to say this particular phrase.
If the context was that I told my kids I used to run in a park in Tokyo when I lived there. And then one day we visited Tokyo and we came across a park, my kids might have this question. But if so, they would say something like
Is this the park where you were running every morning? or Is this the park where you used to run every morning?

Michael2 · 15 Oct 2020

I agree, A would need a lot of context.

C seems dodgy to me though..

hirashin · 15 Oct 2020

Thanks, mdchachi and Michael2. I still don't understand whether to use the past or the past progressive.

mdchachi said:
Is this the park where you were running every morning? or Is this the park where you used to run every morning?

It seems that using "every morning" in the past progressive is ok. How about these?
(a) Were you running in this park every morning when you lived around here?
(b) Did you use to run in this park when you lived around here?

Do they seem dodgy, Michael2?

Michael2 · 16 Oct 2020

"A" seems dodgy to me Hirashin. I think usually for everyday actions you would use a simple tense.

hirashin · 16 Oct 2020

Michael2 said:
"A" seems dodgy to me Hirashin. I think usually for everyday actions you would use a simple tense.

Do you mean "Did you run in this park every morning when you lived around here?" sounds right?

How about these?
(a) I hear you ran in this park for an hour every morning when you lived around here. Is that true?
(b) I hear you were running in this park for an hour every morning when you lived around here. Is that true?
(c) I hear you used to run in this park for an hour every morning when you lived around here. Is that true?

mdchachi · 16 Oct 2020

hirashin said:
Do you mean "Did you run in this park every morning when you lived around here?" sounds right?

How about these?
(a) I hear you ran in this park for an hour every morning when you lived around here. Is that true?
(b) I hear you were running in this park for an hour every morning when you lived around here. Is that true?
(c) I hear you used to run in this park for an hour every morning when you lived around here. Is that true?

These are all perfect imo.

hirashin · 16 Oct 2020

mdchachi said:
These are all perfect imo.

Thanks. I'm glad to hear that. So you can use both the simple past and the past progressive in this case.

Michael2 · 17 Oct 2020

For me, no. In this situation I would say "Is this the park you used to run in?" or "Is this the park you would run in?"
"Is this the park you were running in?" sounds like a specific instance to me.

hirashin · 17 Oct 2020

Thanks, Michael2. So you wouldn't say "I hear .... Is that true?"

Michael2 · 17 Oct 2020

Well that's not really the point here, but probably not naturally no. "I hear.." would logically be used for recent news most naturally, not something from a long time ago, and the fact that a person would go running in a park is not important enough news to have 2 other people be talking about it.

mdchachi · 17 Oct 2020

It's a perfectly fine speech pattern.

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Michael2 · 17 Oct 2020

Yeah, fine as a pattern but odd in this case I think.

hirashin · 17 Oct 2020

Michael2 said:
Yeah, fine as a pattern but odd in this case I think.

I see.

hirashin · 18 Oct 2020

How about these? Do they also sound off, Michael2?
(a) I hear/heard you run/jog in this park every morning. Is that true?
(b) I hear/heard you are running/jogging in this park every morning. Is that true?

Michael2 · 19 Oct 2020

The thing is it's not important enough an event to use this "is that true?" with. It sounds like you're interrogating someone, or something a parent would say to a child, then if you say "this park" it means you are both in the same park so you wouldn't need to use "I hear.." logically you would say "I've never seen you here before," or "I think I've seen you here a few times," or something like that, and I thnk "I hear.." is an odd phrase to use with ordinary daily events/actions. I'd say you would normally use it with one-off, interesting events, like, "I hear you're leaving!"/"I hear you've got a new job!"/"I heard you've got another kid on the way!"

In terms of the grammar, I would definitely go for the first option. "I'm running in the park every morning" sounds wrong to me.

Drogue · 1 Nov 2020

hirashin said:
How about these? Do they also sound off, Michael2?
(a) I hear/heard you run/jog in this park every morning. Is that true?
(b) I hear/heard you are running/jogging in this park every morning. Is that true?

Since you learn that the person run in the park every morning before asking this question, so you need to use "heard" (past tense). So that why is weird if you use "hear" in this sentence.

Michael2 said:
The thing is it's not important enough an event to use this "is that true?" with. It sounds like you're interrogating someone, or something a parent would say to a child, then if you say "this park" it means you are both in the same park so you wouldn't need to use "I hear.." logically you would say "I've never seen you here before," or "I think I've seen you here a few times," or something like that, and I thnk "I hear.." is an odd phrase to use with ordinary daily events/actions. I'd say you would normally use it with one-off, interesting events, like, "I hear you're leaving!"/"I hear you've got a new job!"/"I heard you've got another kid on the way!"

In terms of the grammar, I would definitely go for the first option. "I'm running in the park every morning" sounds wrong to me.

As run everyday so you use simple tense "I run" instead of "I'm running". If use "I'm running": "I am running in the park right now" normally. Happening right now.

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