Past Progressive

Beware! The post is full  of ungrammatical   stuff:

The Past Progressive is used to express:

1.Action going on at a given past moment
-markers: at … o’clock yesterday, at that moment, at midnight, all day, from 5 till 6 yesterday, the whole evening,

-another past action in the past simple:
e.g. Jonas was pulling his pud when his roommate Jill came in.
Tina cut off her finger while she was shaving.

-context (to stress process): e.g. My flatmates were doing it. I was listening.















2.Action going on at a given period in the past.
Time specification may or not be present (all day, all that year, yesterday, the whole morning, from … till ..)

Past Simple expresses a *FACT*,
Past Progressive expresses a *PROCESS*.

e.g. What were you doing there? I was looking for the spliff I had stashed away.


3.Actions generally characterizing a person bringing out his personal traits. (Always with: ALWAYS, CONSTANTLY, CONTINUALLY)

e.g. She was constantly chewing her nails.

4.Future action viewed from the past. (actions are supposed to take place due to one’s own previous decision). Time indication not necessary + usually with the verbs of motion)

e.g. Why didn’t you tell me you were coming. I would have got rid of the body.
I thought you were never coming. (irritation)

5.Past Progressive is used in Descriptions
The birds were singing, the sun was shining brightly. Jake was dissecting a frog and listening to Wagner in his plugs.

The Past Progressive  is normally never used with the words in bold: 

I fucken loved/liked you.
I fucken hated you.
Oh, I forgot you had a herpie.
Sometimes she wished she hadn't been born.
A teenage girl was being raped. I saw it and puked.
And at that moment he wanted most desperately to strangle his hamster.
He was beginning to remember that you shouldn't use the word "remember" in the progressive aspect.
I knew she was lying. Her answers were, (my nan taught me this word) noncommittal answers.
I've been hearing u actually could use hear in the progressive.
He needed a friend. A male friend. He came out of the closet.

Do come up with your examples for to believe, to understand.

Creepy Vocab: gush

Gush - When liquid gushes out of something, or when something gushes a liquid, the liquid flows out very quickly and in large quantities.

e.g Bella and Pavel were going through a bit of a rough patch. One day Pavel woke up to find a pig stuck in his chest. It was obviously alive because he could hear the grunting. Last thing he saw before he died was the smiling Bella who stood there with a handsaw and blood gushing from what was left of her calf. Last thing he heard was her saying that now that their blood has mixed they will always be together. Bella was one of those fortunate girls who had a very rich imagination.

Question: Do you think you're more imaginative than your girlfriend/boyfriend? If the bastard has broken up with you, then do not answer this one. Go and do something useful instead.

Creepy Vocabulary: flay

The word flay has 3 meanings. Which meaning of the word 'flay' does the example illustrate?

The Flay Game

Which meaning of the word 'flay' does the example illustrate?

A  to criticize someone or something in a very severe or cruel way
B to hit or whip a person or animal severely, so that the skin is broken
C to remove the outer layer of something, usually the skin of an animal

E.g. Volodya was a quiet boy who never messed with naughty brats in the neighborhood. But he had, just like all of us do, his guilty pleasure. When his father brought prostitutes to their home and then flayed them in the basement, Volodya liked watching him do it. Then he gathered small bits of the skin his father didn't use in his diet and put it in his lunch box. At school when all naughty children were having their lunch, the quiet Volodya was sitting in one of the corners with a peaceful smile on his face.

Question: Now that it is obvious what Volodya's father's guilty pleasure was, what is your guilty pleasure? Are you anything like him?

Creepy Vocabulary: fling

fling - 1 a short and not very serious sexual relationship
             2 a short period of time during which you enjoy yourself without worrying about anything:

E.g. Taming a feral animal can be very dangerous. Many a lion-tamer have fallen victim to the 'object' of their work. But Vladislav was an exception to the rule. He was an outstanding tamer and a performer and loved Leo, the lion he worked with. The cat's love was reciprocal.
    However, it is also true that you shouldn't have love affairs (=romances) at your workplace. As soon as Vladislav's assistant, his wife, got wind of his fling with the juggler's son, she sawed off his head and fed it to Leo. The animal died a week later ... allegedly of food poisoning.

Question: Have you ever had a fling with a colleague at work? (Of course not) How about a janitor? Are you still in a sort of relationship with this person? Alternatively, have you ever lost your pet to ... cancer?

A Creepy Fact of the Day: bulge

bulge - to stick out in a rounded shape, especially because something is very full or too tighte.g. Within three days of death, the enzymes that once digested your dinner begin to eat you. Ruptured cells become food for living bacteria in the gut, which release enough noxious gas to bloat the body and force the eyes to bulge outward.

Question: Is the girl in the picture below dead or not? If not, why is she still alive?

CV: in kind

In kind - to behave to someone in the same way that they have behaved to you

E.g. When Renata was 5 a serial rapist Sergei brutally raped her mother and double-raped her father who happened to be around (... they were divorced, he was visiting). The poor Renata grew up, found the guy and responded in kind: she triple-raped Sergei with a plunger, bit off his nose and removed his finger nails using a can opener. So the story ended happily - at least no one died.

Question : Is there a person you want to get even with? Is he/she a serial rapist?

( P.S. One of the best Seryozha the Rapist's jokes. He used to tell it at any party before Renata left him without a nose. )



- What do you do to a deaf, dumb, and blind girl after you rape her?
- Break her fingers so she can't tell anyone.

CV: slough

  slough - an emotional condition in which you feel extremely sad or have lost all your hope

E.g. Joe has been drinking for more than a year. He has been in a slough of despair, despondency and desolation since his friends and his family were converted to Satanism. Now that he pukes green every time he takes too much, he suspects he must be under a curse. He shouldn't have stopped being a Mormon.

Question: Do you believe there's Satan somewhere out there? Does he/she look like any of your friends or relatives?