Question He smoked VS He was smoking

hirashin

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• #1

I have a question about the tense.
Do both (a) and (b) make sense in each case?
(1a) He smoked as he drove along the street.
(1b) He was smoking as he drove along the street.
(2a) It rained when I got off the bus.
(2b) It was raining when I got off the bus.

 

mdchachi

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• 31 Aug 2020

• #2

hirashin said:

I have a question about the tense.
Do both (a) and (b) make sense in each case?
(1a) He smoked as he drove along the street.
(1b) He was smoking as he drove along the street.
(2a) It rained when I got off the bus.
(2b) It was raining when I got off the bus.

Click to expand...

All are ok.
(1a) and (1b) meaning is basically the same.
(2a) and (2b) is basically the same except for (2a) we don't know if it was raining when you got off the bus. Maybe it started starting a few minutes later.

 

hirashin

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• #3

Thanks for the help, mdchachi.

 

J

johnnyG

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• #4

For your confusion...

3a) The sax player was really smoking last night.
3b) He got smoked in a drive by.
3c) I smoked that test.

 

hirashin

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• #5

Thanks for giving me the sentences, johnnyG.
Is "smoking" in your 3a different from that of 1b? Is it a slang word?

I don't understand 3b and 3c.
What do "get smoked" and "a drive by" mean?
"Smoked" in 3c seems to be slang.

 

J

johnnyG

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• #6

3a means the sax player was playing really, really well (intensely, likely jazz).

3b means to be killed. A drive by is a type of shooting in the US. One or more guns, fired from a car that is driving by some people (on the street, in a house). Drive-by shooting - Wikipedia

I was surprised when looking for the meaning of 3c. I would have said it means to easily do well on the test (as in playing music really well), but I saw online something that said it means that you flubbed it--did poorly on the test.

For the first, 3a, there's an old jazz album called "Smokin' at the Half Note".

 

hirashin

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• #7

Thanks for teaching me some new words and phrases, johnnyG.

 

mdchachi

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• #8

johnnyG said:

I was surprised when looking for the meaning of 3c. I would have said it means to easily do well on the test (as in playing music really well), but I saw online something that said it means that you flubbed it--did poorly on the test.

Click to expand...

I think you were right the first time. According to Merriam Webster, it means "slang : to defeat or surpass decisively."

 

M

Michael2

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• #9

Also, "She is smoking!" could have a couple of meanings.

 

hirashin

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• #10

Michael2 said:

Also, "She is smoking!" could have a couple of meanings.

Click to expand...

A couple of meanings? Can it mean she's angry?

 

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johnnyG

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• #11

The literal version, "She is smoking!" (smoking a cigarette, sound like she shouldn't be)

Alternatively, this is another way to say she is extremely attractive. "Hot" might also be used with this, to mean "attractive".

She's really hot!
She's smoking hot! (here "really" and "smoking" modify "hot")

Shortening the second one, "She's smoking." =She's hot/very attractive.

**
And your question, "Can it mean she's angry?"

Oddly/interestingly, altho smoke and fumes are so similar, by saying "She's fuming," or "She's fuming hot," you are now saying that she's very angry.

 

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Michael2

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• #12

Exactly JohnnyG

 

mdchachi

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• #13

johnnyG said:

The literal version, "She is smoking!" (smoking a cigarette, sound like she shouldn't be)

Click to expand...

What about the even more literal version where she's actually emitting smoke.



By the way, you can say "smoking mad" to mean very angry but smoking alone wouldn't mean angry unless there are contextual clues pointing to that meaning.

Smoking mad over smokers - Sidney Daily News

First the disclaimer: I fully realize this column is probably not going to change anyone’s habits. If the surgeon general and graphic cancer ads can’t convince a person to stop smoking, 847 words in a local newspaper sure can’t. Nicotine is a powerful and addictive drug. The tobacco companies...

www.sidneydailynews.com

 

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tomoni

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• #14

(1a) He smoked as he drove along the street.

Don't like this one

Is he on fire???


Inusages related to smoking, the "be smoking" seems to be most common. He smoked seem to "want" and object. whereas is smoking etc, have the default meaning of a cigarette (perhaps a North American thing???)