While Melanie was working upstairs, I was preparing dinner.I was preparing dinner while Melanie was working upstairs.To describe two actions that were in progress at the same time in the past: While he was writ ing an e-mail, the phone rang.When the phone rang, he was writ ing an e-mail.He was writ ing an e-mail when the phone rang.To describe an action that started in the past and was interrupted by another action: The past progressive describes an action that was in progress at a specific time in the past. Present tense: "I drink your milkshake." Simple past: "I drank your milkshake." Past participle: "I have drunk your milkshake.The past progressive tense is difficult for many non-native speakers to master because many languages don’t have an equivalent. In the event that the inflection of shrink/shrank/shrunk is still troublesome to you, some people appear to have an easier time distinguishing between the similar forms of drink/drank/drunk, and you may find it useful to use this as a guide. Humphry Ward (Mary Augusta Ward), Robert Elsmere, 1888 Backhouse pointed with withering scorn to a small, shrunken old man, who sat dangling his legs on the shaft of the cart, and whose countenance wore a singular expression of mingled meekness and composure, as his partner flourished an indignant finger towards him. However, most people who care about such matters would say that shrunken should properly only be used as an adjective.Īnd Mr. Wells, in his A Short History of the World, wrote “The great Hellenic world had shrunken to a few possessions round the nucleus of the trading city of Constantinople”). Similarly, it is not difficult to find examples of writers using shrunken, especially as a past participle (H. You can also put your red socks in the wash with your white shirts, but … c’mon, didn’t anyone ever explain laundry to you? In the citations listed above the first use is archaic, the second is a novelist replicating speech, and the third would be generally viewed as an error. This is, however, one of those cases where evidence of a word being used a certain way does not necessarily mean that you should use it thusly. Peggy Fletcher Stack, The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, UT), 31 May, 2015 No stern lecture, no dogmatic sermon, but a clear Mormon message about sexual morality. “He got so frightened about his plaguy soul, that he shrinked and sheered away from whales, for fear of after-claps, in case he got stove and went to Davy Jones." By John F.), A Necessary Instruction of Christian Faith, 1579 If Abraham I say, had thoughte on thys maner, or had shrinked so in his faith, I thinke hee would neuer haue intended to offer vp his onely sonne…. What of shrinked and shrunken? Shrinked may be found in the works of many writers over the past five hundred years. In the present day, most style guides will recommend using shrank for the simple past (“I shrank your jeans”) and shrunk for the past participle (“I have shrunk your jeans”) or when using the passive voice (“jeans have been shrunk”). At this point, shrunk began to be used more frequently as a past participle (“the form of the verb that is used with “have” in perfect tenses and with “be” in passive constructions”). Around the 18th and 19th centuries shrank began to see increased use in this case (at least in written English). That doesn’t mean that people didn’t use shrank, just that shrunk was more common. Putting aside the ways that this verb was inflected back in Old English (because you really do need to get around to doing your laundry sooner or later), it was, for hundreds of years, very common to see shrunk used as the simple past tense. The earliest meaning was “to contract or curl up the body or part of it usually because of physical stress, fear, or revulsion.” In the following centuries, shrink has picked up a large number of additional meanings, almost all of which are in some way concerned with contracting, diminishing, or drawing back from a thing. Shrink is an old word, having been in continual use since before the 12th century. Now let’s look at the very long answer (the one for people who are avoiding doing the laundry, and need a diversion). The slightly longer answer is "English is a complicated and messy language, with many variant forms overlapping in use and register over the years, and if you want to avoid shrinking clothes you should use cold water (or do a hand wash), and hang them up to dry, instead of using a dryer." Herman Melville used the word 'shrinked', but you should probably not follow his example. Use 'shrank' for the simple past ("I shrank your jeans") and "shrunk" for the past participle ("I have shrunk your jeans").
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