Seagull Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
A usage of the past progressive form
Regarding the passage below:
By the time the park opened, people couldn't wait to get there. Within two years it was attracting 4.5 million visitors a year. The average customer, according to Time magazine, spent $4.90 on a day out at Disneyland -- $2.72 for rides and admission, $2 for food, and 18 cents for souvenirs.
Why did the author use the past progressive form in the sentence "Within two years it was attracting 4.5 million visitors a year"? I think it's "normal" to use the simple past form in a case like this. Is it because Disneyland kept on attracting more and more visitors and the number was increasing steadily at that time?
By the time the park opened, people couldn't wait to get there. Within two years it was attracting 4.5 million visitors a year. The average customer, according to Time magazine, spent $4.90 on a day out at Disneyland -- $2.72 for rides and admission, $2 for food, and 18 cents for souvenirs.
Why did the author use the past progressive form in the sentence "Within two years it was attracting 4.5 million visitors a year"? I think it's "normal" to use the simple past form in a case like this. Is it because Disneyland kept on attracting more and more visitors and the number was increasing steadily at that time?
Top answer
Who knows why - maybe to make it sound more dramatic, maybe as you say to imply continued growth, or maybe just because this kind of news copy is often written in this style?
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Who knows why - maybe to make it sound more dramatic, maybe as you say to imply continued growth, or maybe just because this kind of news copy is often written in this style?
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