Tatiana, a typo: "none"

Actually noone is correct (or no-one, or no one)

Ah, sorry, I didn't know...

😉

I was asking if my translation was correct...

I wouldn't use INSTEAD, I would use FOR

Thanks👍

"две большие разницы": для кого-то = for sb и за кого-то = ~ вместо кого-то - instead of sb
IMO: здесь - ОНА ДЕЛАЛА ТО, ЧТО ТОЛЬКО ОНА МОГЛА СДЕЛАТЬ /БЫЛА ЕДИНСТВЕННОЙ, КТО МОГ ЭТО СДЕЛАТЬ, И НИКТО ДРУГОЙ ВО ВСЕ ВРЕМЕНА НЕ МОГ и НИКОГДА НЕ СМОЖЕТ.

Uly, actually, at first I wrote "for" her, but then I thought it might be understood as "для" нее. Therefire I changed to ""instead"...

Вместо кого-то = FOR someone: (1) My hand is broken, can my brother sign the contract for me? (2) I can’t attend the meeting tomorrow because I have a doctors appointment – my brothers going to attend for me.

Now is clear, great, thanks 👍

Anytime, cookie.

Uly, why she was doing, and not she did?
She did - a single action while was doing - lasting series of actions, correct?

I guess these should be interchangeable: The things she DID... and What she WAS doing... - right?

...both indicate that there wasn’t a single action. Eh?

Not necessarily, but in Russian the verb is imperfective, which tells me that she was either in the process of doing something, or doing it repeatedly. No?

Uly, I think it refers to the past - what she did at some period of time in general

It might be of some heroic deeds in a war or sth

Yes, the original text implies some continuous activity with number of different or similar actions. However, I still can’t understand whether Elena’s “What she did...” is correct or not. If I didn’t see the Russian text, I would think ‘She did something special’ as a single action. Funny, but I’m still not quite aware of how the Past Simple in English can be interpreted in terms of single vs progressive. I can only guess that it can be told by the context: ‘The things we did last summer’ - there were many things we did. ‘We did it at last’ - there was one thing to do, and it was done. ‘I sat in the attic, piano at my nose’. I used to think he went upstairs and sat down at the piano, but now I incline to think that he just was there sitting on a stool...
could you comment the difference between Elena’s version with ‘She did’ and yours with ‘She was doing’?

Past Simple refers to finished past which is the case, I think

Yes, that was in the past, but
When we say “она делала”, that was a progressive activity, while “она сделала” - это тоже Past Simple, хотя и завершённое действие. Это всегда меня напрягало и напрягает до сих пор. Оба варианта были в прошлом, но один длился, другой закончился, а Past Simple и там, и там. И опять же What she did no one could... - это “То, что она делала, никто...” или “То, что она сделала, никто не мог...” Может быть, в английском языке это вообще чисто грамматически никак не отражается, а как я предположил, только через контекст, если надо на этом заостриться?

There's no question that it's the past - I was stating that it's the IMPERFECTIVE past делала, and not the PERFECTIVE past сделала. That's why I interpreted it as "was doing." Or am I crazy?

"He sat at the piano" can refer to the moment he sat down, or to his sitting there for a while. The reason is that the progressive in the past is tricky. We usually use it to describe what someone was doing BEFORE something else happened: Last night I was playing cards with my brother WHEN SOMEBODY KNOCKED ON THE DOOR. This makes perfect sense. However, if somebody asks you "What did you do last night." You can't just say "I was playing cards with my brother." You have to say "I played cards with my brother." because if you use the progressive, the listener is going to expect to hear WHAT HAPPENED NEXT. Russians make this mistake constantly. You read things like: "This weekend I was working in my garden." When we read that, we wonder... "and...what happened???"

I'd also use Contnuous in case a certain moment in tbe past was mentioned. It happened in 1944, in October. During the first week of the month she spent sleepless nights in the hospital. She was taking care of the wounded. Correct, Uly?

(At first, I typed "absolutely", then Oops!!!... absolutely crazy?!!!)
The imperfective, no doubt. You understood everything right. But again, is "What she did, nobody could do" mean
1. Both perfective and imperfective or only the perfective;
2. Does "What she did, nobody could do" mean that she completed a single action (слелала что-то) or there was a progressive activity​ (делала что-то)?
I'm only talking about Elena's English version, just to understand how it can be interpreted without​ seeing the Russian original.
If you, Uly as a native, saw the phrase "What she did, nobody could do" for the first time, how would you understand/translate it?

Elena, "She was taking care when she was..." That's absolutely clear to me. But there is a clear context. But again, "What she did, nobody could do"...

Alexander, that's why I think in our case there should be Past Simple

Elena, please don't think I'm picking. I'm just trying to understand what I should have understood many years ago. To me, the Past Simple turned out not as simple as it should be.

Alexander, I don't think so. Me too, I'm revising the English grammer now and find a lot of mysteries 🙄

Without any context, if I read Elena's sentence, I would assume that she did one thing.

Now I know!!! Uly, I overlooked your explanation above with playing cards and working in the garden. It's quite clear to me.
So, you used the progressive in your translation just to say it was a lasting activity while expecting something else to happen next is not the case in this context, right?

Uly, the honeymooners are alone at last, stop interfering, let them discuss Mt.Smith with his progressive debility. The right time to quit that endless food-recipe post.

So, am I right with my last question above? - "you used the progressive in your translation just to say it was a lasting activity while expecting something else to happen next is not the case in this context."

Uly, и тут даже не сказано закончила ли она свои дела на сегодняшний момент.
Поэтому я рискнула насчёт презент перфект континуус.

На самом деле , вдруг все ещё продолжается , а ты в паст континюс СЖЕГ ВСЕ МОСТЫ !!!!!!
Возможно я и не права, я пока в сомнениях и мучаюсь от неопределенности

Or maybe there need be:
‘what noone wouldn’t have ever done’
I dunno!!!