"I hoped" vs. "I was hoping". What's the difference?

Question

I can't remember to hear "I hoped..." in any movie I've watched. I always hear "I was hoping..." when people talk. Nevertheless I know both forms are correct in terms of grammar. So when "I hoped" is more proper then "I was hoping" and vice versa?

Shoe · Accepted Answer

In typical narratives about past events the past simple is the default tense. However, if the speaker wishes to convey the ongoing nature of the past action or state, then the past continuous can be used. For example:

In the days before the wedding I was hoping that the weather would be
  good.

You might also have encountered the past continuous more often because it is commonly used  as a stock phrase to formulate a polite request.

I was hoping you could lend me some money

is more tentative than:

Can you lend me some money?

Aezur · Answer

'I had hoped', 'I was hoping', I am hoping, and I hoped are all just different ways of saying the same thing. It is all just different phrasing. When speaking you can use the past or present tense because you can only hope up unto the point of knowing.

Rochelle Thomas · Answer

I see it as "I had hoped" means you had thought it could happen but realise now it wont. "I am hoping" means there is still a chance of it happening.

BoldBen · Answer

"I hoped" and "I was hoping" are almost interchangeable, however there is a slight tendency for "I hoped" to indicate a more fundamental and longer term desire than "I was hoping" which has a tendency to indicate something more immediate and transitory.

For example one would probably say "When I chose to study accountacy and business practice I hoped for a career in the financial sector" but go on to say "When I applied to PWC I was hoping to be taken on as a graduate trainee".

Another example would be "As a twenty-something I hoped to find a loving wife some day" as opposed to "As our wedding day approached I was hoping that the weather would be fine". The first is longer term, more fundamental and more abstract whereas the second is more shorter term, more concrete and more specific.

However these are slight differences in emphasis, not hard and fast rules.

Reichrudel Haim · Answer

Michael Swan, Practical English Usage, Oxford University Press,1995
252
(3)special uses of past tenses
We can use "I was hoping"... to introduce a polite request.
e.g.I was hoping you could lend me some money.
***

"I had hoped"... is used to talk about hopes that were not realised---hopes for things that did not happen.
e.g.I had hoped that Jennifer would become a doctor, but she wasn't good enough at
science.

Reichrudel Haim · Answer

I would like to comment on the usage of "I AM HOPING"...beware of stative verbs !!!
These verbs are NOT to be used in the Present Continuous/Progressive form save for the some
that change their meanings:
e.g. I see you ( I am looking at you at the moment) vs
I am seeing Jane ( = I am meeting ) today.

"I hoped" vs. "I was hoping". What's the difference?

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