(21) Verbs and the Progressive Aspect

(21) Verbs and the Progressive Aspect

(Formal and Functional Description)

[see (19.1)]

[see (19.2)]

-typical functions

(a)continuation of action

(b)repetition of action

(c)change of state

(d)near future

(21.3.1) Present Progressive

(21.3.1.1) Typical Reference

-a momentary action in progress: what are you looking for?

-change of state: the standard of living is rising

-temporary situation: people are becoming less tolerant of smoking these days

-near future: he is moving to London

-repeated actions: she’s always helping people

(21.3.1.2) Typical Usage

-commentaries on sport to describe longer-lasting actions: X passes to Y, Y makes a quick pass to Z, Zis away with the ball, but he’s losing his advantage...

-narration to describe the background of an event / present simple to describe the main event: I’m driving along this country road and I’m completely lost, then I see this old fellow, he’s leaning against a gate...

-newspaper headlines to describe future: cabinet minister resigning soon

(21.3.2) Past Progressive

(21.3.2.1) Typical Reference

-actions in progress in the past: I was playing tennis all this afternoon

-a past action in progress while another past action took place: we were having our breakfast when the clock struck nine

-parallel actions: while I was working in the garden, my husband was cooking dinner

-a past action in progress btw two time limits in the past: yesterday from five to seven I was learning French

-repeated actions: when he worked here, Roger was always making mistakes

(21.3.2.2) Typical Usage

-typically combined with the oth. past tenses (past simple / perfect) in narratives referring to the past

-past progressive used for scene-setting: it was evening, the sun was setting, a gentle wind was blowing, in the distance I noticed a car...

(21.3.3) Future Progressive

-will / shall + be + present participle: prediction about a present action, reference to a planned future action (he will be still reading his paper; I can’t come this afternoon because I’ll be training)

-be going to + bare infinitive: intention in the future or an event ‘on the way’ (we are going to get married, she’s going to have a baby)

-be about to + bare infinitive: immediate future (we are about to leave)

-be on the point of + present participle: immediacy (look! they’re on the point of starting)

(21.3.4) Present Perfect Progressive

-an action started in the past, still in progress and likely to continue in the future: I’ve been waiting for him for half an hour but he hasn’t come yet

-an action in the past with consequences at the present: he is tired because he has been working too hard

(21.3.5) Past Perfect Progressive

-expresses the same type of action as the PRES PERF PROG but in relation to another action in the past

-I had been waiting for him for half an hour when his wife came to tell me he had had an accident

-he was very tired because he had been working too hard

(21.3.6) Future Perfect Progressive

-by next January we shall have been living here for ten years

-progressive aspect typically with action verbs only

-x not with action verbs referring to mental processes: think, wonder, puzzle, guess, count, calculate

-with state verbs only after their re-categorisation as action verbs and a change of meaning

(21.4.1) State Verbs

[see (18.5)]

(21.4.2) Modals

[see (18.2.3)]

(21.4.3) Copula Verbs

-typically NO progressive aspect

-x be re-categorised from state V (= meaning general characteristics) to action V (= meaning a momentary behaviour): he is clever x he is being clever

-x have in verbo-nominal groups: I have a book x I’m having a lunch

(21.4.4) Passive Structures

-continuous forms used only with present / past: the picture is being finished / the picture was being finished

-NOT with future: ?the house will be being built

-NOT in combination with perfect aspect: ?the house has been being built