Using JUST for Actions Recently Finished Basic English Grammar
hi everybody my name is Alisha in this
lesson I’m going to talk about how to
use the word just for actions that
finished very very recently I’m going to
talk about a couple of different
patterns where we see the word just used
to talk about recently finished actions
and I’m also going to talk about maybe
one question that you might have about
tenses with the word just so for this
lesson I’m going to use a timeline from
past to future with a point in the
present also just a reminder to review
we use the word just as an emphasis word
for this lesson an emphasis word for an
activity that’s close to the present
something that happened close to the
present time in the past in this case
but we can also use it for future
actions you can check a different video
to see the word just used for future
actions so let’s take a look at today’s
points then okay the first pattern that
I want to talk about is marked in green
here it’s the subject of the sentence
plus the word just plus a past tense
verb a simple past tense verb in this
case and extra information according to
the verb that you use so this is a very
simple past tense statement but we want
to emphasize that it was something that
took place something that happened just
before or very very recently so very in
the very recent past in other words
let’s take a look at a couple of
examples then first example I just sent
you an email so here my subject I
followed by just and then my simple past
tense sent which is the past tense of
the verb send you and email so this is
something that happened very very
recently I just sent you an email we can
drop the word just here I sent you an
email however using the word just shows
how recently the action happened so this
is an emphasis word we can see it pretty
clearly here I think
let’s look at another example we just
saw that movie so saw is the past tense
form of C so we just saw that movie very
very recently we saw that movie that’s
what we want to communicate with this
sentence another example he just got
back from from France or he just came
back from France is good too so I’ve
used got here to get back from a place
as kind of a casual verb choice we can’t
say he just came back from France as
well so each of these we see a simple
past tense verb is used these are
completed actions then and they happen
very recently so something very very
close to the present but it happened in
the past so to kind of give a visual we
can imagine that these actions happen
very recently in the past in the second
pattern that I want to look at however
I’m going to change the sentence a
little bit let’s take a look so again we
have the subject here though I have the
verb to be in this case we’re going to
use the past tense of the verb then we
have just followed by the progressive or
the continuous tense of the verb this is
the ing form of the verb and again any
extra information according to the verb
that you’re using so let’s take a look
at when we might use this kind of
pattern here
first one I was past the tense according
to my subject was I was just and then
studying is my verb here I was just
studying so this is an action that was
happening you’ll notice the progressive
tense in the very recent past something
I was doing I was in the process of
doing in the very recent past let’s take
a look at another example here he was
just washing the dishes
he was just washing the dishes shows
this is an action that was happening but
in the past very recently just shows us
that this action was in progress so this
is something he in this case this person
was doing in the past it was a
continuing action in the past very
recently let’s look at one more example
then
someone was just smoking in here
so if for example you enter a room and
it’s very smoky you were not smoking
maybe you want to make a guess someone
was just so very recently smoking in
here in the process of smoking in this
case so each of these shows that
something was happening in the past very
recently and perhaps it was interrupted
or it ended at the present point in time
so for example this sentence I was just
studying maybe for example yours you’re
in the process of studying but your
phone rings you pick up the phone and
you answer it with oh hello I was just
studying so something I was very
recently continuing to do in this case -
he was just washing the dishes shows us
for example that someone was recently
very recently washing the dishes that
was the ongoing action but perhaps that
action was interrupted he was just
washing the dishes but now he’s outside
taking out the garbage for example so
these patterns we can use to show an
action that was continuing in the past
and recently finished or perhaps that
was just interrupted so maybe that
action is going to continue in the
future like for example I was just
studying I picked up the phone to talk
to my friend I’m going to continue
studying in the future but we can use
was here or were but a past tense form
of the verb be plus the continuous tense
to show an action continuing that was
continuing in the very recent past so
this can be quite useful for interrupted
activities as I said okay but there are
a couple of things I want to mention
here because while these are useful and
perhaps you can check the other video
about how to use just for future actions
there’s one kind of simple similar
pattern I suppose that might cause some
confusion or that might not be so clear
so I have a couple of example sentences
here in this lesson I’ve talked about
using the past tense form of the verb to
be
but I’m using the the progressive form
here or in the first pattern I
introduced I’m not using the be verb in
this case but I’m using a simple past
tense verb if however you see a sentence
like one of these like for example I was
just about to send you an email or he
was just about to make dinner it might
cause some confusion because here we
have past tense I was or he was in this
case but this point just about to
suggest a future action so it seems like
it doesn’t match really there’s a past
tense point and maybe a future tense
point together here this is a pattern
that’s used for actions we were planning
to do we had a plan something we wanted
to do in the near future however the
action was interrupted so for example
this is a sentence you can use at work
or maybe at school maybe you have a plan
to email your professor or to email a
colleague however before you have time
or before you have a chance to email
your colleague your colleague comes to
you or your colleague calls you for
example so you can say I was just about
to so something you plan to do in the
very recent future however you did not
do so the plan was interrupted or you
did not have a chance or there’s some
reason that you did not take the action
you’re describing here so in this
example he was just about to make dinner
but perhaps an action interrupted it so
he was just about to make dinner when
his friend invited him out for pizza for
example so perhaps these are used for
interruptions we plan to do something
but that plan is interrupted for some
reason so we mix this past tense be verb
- this about - which I talked about more
in the future tense example or the
future tense sample patterns in the
other video about this topic so please
check that out if you have some
questions about how to use just for
future actions so I hope that this video
was useful for you if you have any
question
or comments or if you would like to try
to make a sentence please feel free in
the comments section of the video if you
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resources too thanks very much for
watching this lesson and I will see you
again soon