Tense imperfect umumnya mewakili tindakan yang terus-menerus
atau diulang. Di mana tense present mungkin menunjukkan "mereka
sedang bertanya," tense imperfect akan menunjukkan "mereka
terus bertanya."
Dalam kasus kata kerja "to be," namun, tense imperfect
digunakan sebagai tense lampau umum dan tidak membawa
konotasi tindakan yang terus-menerus atau diulang.
5775 Tense - Imperfect
The imperfect tense generally represents continual or repeated
action. Where the present tense might indicate "they are
asking," the imperfect would indicate "they kept on asking."
In the case of the verb "to be," however, the imperfect tense
is used as a general past tense and does not carry the
connotation of continual or repeated action.
