Question

Hi everyone, which sentence is more natural? and why???

"At 8 o'clock last night was doing my homework"  or " At 8 o'clock last night I did my homework."?

Thanks

Answer 1

Generally, both are natural !!
But, you can use the first sentence if you talk about a lot of thing you did (in the past), and the second sentence if you talk about one thing you did (in the past too) ..

Answer 2

The first one is more natural if you are referring to an action that was in progress at 8 o'clock. But it is not possible to omit the subject in English, pronoun "I" in this case.

If you are referring to an action that was concluded before 8 o'clock, you should use Past Perfect and a different preposition, "by 8 o'clock" in this case.

E.g.: I had finished my homework by 8 o'clock last night.

Both sentences are syntactically incorrect, i.e. the word order is not respected. 

You have two options: 1) to use a comma for emphasis: At 8 o'clock last night, I was doing my homework; 2) to put the whole adverbial phrase after the object: I was doing my homework at 8 o'clock last night.

 

Answer 3

Neither sentence sounds natural.

i would change them to ...

I did my homework yesterday at 8 o'clock - to indicate a finished action.   (Someone asks you: When did you do your homework?)

OR

I was doing my homework yesterday at 8 o'clock - to indicate action in progress (someone asks you: what were you doing yesterday at 8?)

Answer 4

i think the first tenes is more fit . because in this case, the act were not done, they still continuous . and if you talk a act were done then you use past present .