WHEN NO REPETITION OF THE ACTION IS IM- PLIED

A. IF THE ACTION IS CONSIDERED AS BEING SIMPLY IN PROGRESS, WITHOUT REFERENCE EITHER TO ITS BEGINNING OR TO 1TS END,

again the imparfait is used.

The force, in English, is " was . . . -ing."

E.g., 1. 12 : je vivais séparée = " I was living apart."

1. 58 : . . . attendaient leur arrêt = " were awaiting their doom."

B. IF THE ACTION IS STATED WITH REFERENCE EITHER TO ITS BEGINNING, OR TO ITS END, OR TO BOTH, the PASSÉ DEFINI is used.

Thus a. Simple occurrence, which is the introduction of a new action now beginning to take place, takes the passé défini. E.g., 1. 19 : . . ., ajouta-t-il, . . . = " he [then] added." 1. 26 : . . . qui sauva nos aïeux = " which [once before] saved our forefathers."

1. 494. : il trembla pour sa vie = " he began to tremble for his life." b. Continuous duration through a completed period of time which may be expressed or implied, takes the passé défini.

E.g., 1. 4 : . . . fus de mes premiers ans la compagru assidue = wast the constant companion of my earliest years."

I. 272 : . . . qui ne furent jamais = " who never [in ail time] had existence."

I. 477 : . . . il fut des Juifs = " there was once [but is no more] a race of Jews."

Note that the action may be stated as recurring a given or indefinite number of times, and yet the verb \vi!l not be in the imperfect. E.g., 1. 249 : Mon père mille fois m' a dit . . . 1. 531 : Et j 'ai pâli deux fois. . . .

If the imperfect were used hère, the meaning would be " My father used to tell me a thousand times," i.e., he told me 1000 X n times; and in the second sentence, " I grew pale 2 X n times."

The student is recommended to account to himself carefully for the différent tenses used in contrast to one another in the following passages :