Help! Verb Tenses (Continuous Tenses)

[Optimist]

Can someone help with the following question, please?

Those men ______ about their health reports just now.

1 - was talking.
2 - is talking
3 - are talking
4 - were talking

DS1 chose "3", but the supposedly right answer is "4". Can this be right?

[hermanmunster]

"just now" implies a past tense hence "were talking" as opposed to "now" which would need "are talking".

[Optimist]

Thanks hermanmunster

Just shows how tricky verb tenses can be. I will never get them.

Happy New Year to everyone.

[Sally-Anne]

A very ambiguous question! The dictionary definition of "just now" is "at this moment", "a little while ago" or "very soon"! (I don't think I have ever heard the 3rd definition used though.)

Hopefully there would be no such ambiguity on the real paper.

[doodles]

Definately 4. If you say it to yourself No3 doesn't sound quite right. "Just now" implies action has gone and was in past hence "were".

Good luck - used to find tenses quite hard until one particular job which involved writing very formal English which had to be reviewed by a very pedantic boss!

[Sally-Anne]

Ah, but what about "The Directors are discussing the Annual Report just now"?

I would use the expression "right now" to imply current and present, but "just now" does the job too.

[doodles]

In my previous life of shoulder pads and high heels I would have been told that "just now" was too colloquial!

[Optimist]

A very ambiguous question! The dictionary definition of "just now" is "at this moment", "a little while ago" or "very soon"! (I don't think I have ever heard the 3rd definition used though.)

Hopefully there would be no such ambiguity on the real paper.

My father, a former junior school teacher in the 60s, 70s and 80s handed me a few mixed grammar questions' worksheets, The above question was from a worksheet (from the 60s) for children of 7-8 years.

I will look to see what the 8-9 worksheet has in store.