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is/was wearing

 
 
Reply Thu 2 Aug, 2007 09:03 am
She is wearing the raincoat just now because it was raining.

She was wearing the raincoat just now because it was raining.

Are both sentences correct?

Many thanks.
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contrex
 
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Reply Thu 2 Aug, 2007 11:28 am
Quote:
Are both sentences correct?


No. Only the first one.

"Just now" means "at this present time" so you need to use the present tense, so "She was wearing the raincoat" is wrong.

Incidentally, this is better, especially if she is wearing the raincoat now, in the present, because the rain occurred in the very recent past:

She is wearing the raincoat just now because it has been raining.

Also, what job are the words "just now" doing in the sentence? They are slangy and conversational and belong to spoken, not written English.

Also, again, unless you have previously been talking about that specific raincoat for some reason, you might say:

She is wearing a raincoat because it has been raining.
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Yoong Liat
 
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Reply Thu 2 Aug, 2007 12:14 pm
Hi Contrex

Just now also means a short time ago, doesn't it?
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contrex
 
  1  
Reply Thu 2 Aug, 2007 12:44 pm
Yoong Liat wrote:
Hi Contrex

Just now also means a short time ago, doesn't it?


Yes it does, but it has to be carefully used to avoid ambiguity, since it can also mean "right now".

I was talking to John just now - I was talking to John a short time ago.

I am reading Charles Dickens just now - I am reading books by Charles Dickens at present. It was H.G. Wells last month and it might be J K Rowling (yuk!) next month.
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Yoong Liat
 
  1  
Reply Thu 2 Aug, 2007 06:26 pm
Thanks, Contrex.
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