The Progressive in English

The PROGRESSIVE in
ENGLISH (I)
Lecture 5 (part II)
Organization
1. The core value of the PROGRESSIVE
2. The progressive: previous approaches
3. The progressive and situation-type aspect
Starting point...
in order to understand the meaning of
progressive verbal constructions we should
first understand what the progressive choice
actually means, i.e. the basic meaning of the
progressive, and the way in which it interacts
with situation-type aspect.
The core meaning of the
progressive
The progressive
(1) a. I enjoy the seaside.
b. Im enjoying the seaside.

(2) a. My car drives smoothly.
b. My car is driving smoothly today.

temporariness
The progressive
(3) a. I raise my arm.
b. I am raising my arm.

(4) a. The house falls.
b. The house is falling.

Gradual change
(limited)
duration
The progressive
(5) a. The bus stops!
b. The bus is stopping.

(6) The plane is landing.

+
incompleteness
The progressive
CORE value = temporary incomplete
happening (ET) that holds (at least) at RT

ET at (least at) RT

The Progressive
+ dynamism
+ gradual change
+ temporariness
+ incompleteness
+ indeterminacy

Some ...progressive flavour

(7) I am understanding everything without reading the subtitles.
(8) I am hating this LEC lecture!
(9) Your glass is standing on my chair.
(10) This cake is looking done.
(11) John has been finding lice in his hair for weeks now.
(12) If we choose to place the dividing line between the two at
the county line, then we are basing our decision on social
rather than linguistic facts.

The Progressive in English
Previous accounts
The Progressive
Otto Jespersen (1932) - A Modern English
Grammar on Historical Principles
David Dowty (1979) Word Meaning and
Montague Grammar
Susan Kearns (1991) The Semantics of the
English Progressive
Jespersen (1932)
He was hunting.

The hunting is felt to be a kind of frame round
something else; it is represented as lasting some
time before and possibly (or probably) also some
time after something else, which may or may not
be expressly indicated, but which is always in the
mind of the speaker.
Jespersen (1932)
< the phrase he was on hunting , which meant
he was in the course of hunting, engaged in
hunting, busy with hunting; he was, as it
were, in the middle of something [...], denoted
by the substantive hunting.
Jespersen (1932)
= the progressive represents an event as a
TEMPORAL FRAME around some other event
or some other moment in time:

(13) a. John was making coffee when Bill arrived.
b. John was making coffee at 3.00.
c. John is making coffee now.

Jespersen (1932)

The progressive event is presented as
temporally framing the time denoted by the
time adverbial

the framed time must be specific/anchored
Jespersen (1932)
(14) John was making coffee at 3 oclock.
= the framed time is denoted by the time adverbial

(15) Mary is making coffee. = the framed time is RT=ST

(16) Every time I went in there they were watching TV.
Jespersen (1932)
(17)
a. John was playing the piano from ten to
eleven.
b. John played the piano from ten to eleven.

from ten to eleven = the whole duration in
(a) but not in (b)

Jespersen (1932)
the progressive does not always have a
framing effect

< the time interval denoted by the time
adverbial is not shorter than the time of the
situation denoted by the progressive
predicate
Jespersen (1932)
(18) The child was sleeping when I was cooking.
She was reading this morning.

ET does not frame the RT
ET and RT coincide
Jespersen (1932)
The hunting is felt to be a kind of frame round
something else; it is represented as lasting some time
before and possibly (or probably) also some
time after something else, which may or may not
be expressly indicated, but which is always in the mind of
the speaker.

the event begins before RT and continues
after RT
Jespersen (1932)
BUT:

(19) John was sleeping when the clock woke
him.

Dowty (1979)
The progressive: aspect and modality
(20)
a. John was running John ran.
b. She was singing she ran
c. It was raining it rained

Atelic predicate + PROG
(21) John is drawing a circle.

does not entail John has drawn a circle

draw a circle = [+telic]

the imperfective paradox

= a puzzle concerning the existence of an
entailment from a progressive to the
corresponding simple past sentence for atelic
predicates, and the lack of such an
entailment for telic predicates.
entailment: a relation between propositions
propositions: the meaning of declarative sentences
(true/false)

A entails B = if A is true then B must also be true

the existence of a circle is a possible outcome
of John's activity.

possibility = modality

= PROG relates an incomplete event in the
actual world to a complete version of that event
in some possible world
the progressive is not simply a temporal-
aspectual operator but a kind of temporal-
aspectual-modal operator, i.e. its meaning
has a major modal component

the progressive possible outcomes
The PROGRESSIVE in
ENGLISH (II)
Lecture 6
So far...
the progressive choice

= focus on the internal stages of durative
situations/ dynamism
= incompleteness
= limited duration
= indeterminacy

So far...
Previous approaches to the progressive:
(i) the temporal frame analysis: the progressive
represents an event as a temporal frame around
an RT (Jespersen 1932)

(i) the progressive has a modal value (Dowty 1979)
John is drawing a circle.
the existence of a circle is a possible outcome
of John's activity.

possibility = modality

= PROG relates an incomplete event in the
actual world to a complete version of that event
in some possible world
Today

Kearns (1991)
The progressive and situation-type aspect
the progressive is not simply a temporal-
aspectual operator but a kind of temporal-
aspectual-modal operator, i.e. its meaning
has a major modal component

the progressive possible outcomes
Kearns (1991)
the most important contribution of the
progressive to the temporal meaning of a
sentence is that it locates the reported
event at or around RT

< John was crossing the street when a car hit him.
< John was sleeping when some terrible noise woke him.
The progressive
Our analysis:

< Kearns (1991): PROG: ET at/around RT
< modal value (Dowty 1979): possible outcomes
The progressive: so far
(22) We are discussing the core value of the
progressive .

ST= NOW
RT=ST (Present Tense)
ET at/around RT (progressive viewpoint)
ET at/around ST ( a situation in progress at ST)
(23) We were discussing the core value of the
progressive at the time.

ST= NOW
RT prior to ST (Past Tense)
ET at/around RT (progressive)
ET before ST (past situation)
(24) We will be discussing the core value of the
progressive at 10.00 next Friday.

ST= NOW
RT after ST (Future Tense)
ET at/around RT (progressive)
ET after ST (future situation)
PROGR:
non-deictic
its meaning is not anchored into ST
Present progressive
Past progressive
Future progressive
The value of the PROG
remains the same (ET
at (least at) /around
RT) irrespective of the
relation ST/RT (i.e.
Tense)

The Progressive

The progressive and situation-type
The progressive
PROG = [+dynamic], [+gradual change]
the predicates are interpreted as processes

States = [-dynamic]
They usually resist the progressive.
The Progressive
(25) a. * John is liking beer.
b. * Mary is being slim.
c. * Most students are being interested in
linguistics.
d. * My brother is knowing how to repair
cars.

The Progressive
(26) a. Your friend is really liking the party.
b. Amy is enjoying the concert.
c. Nowadays the children are wanting us to bring
them toys.
d. You are being rude today!

states which can be
interpreted as
EPISODIC/temporary can
appear in the progressive
The Progressive
BUT:

(27) Erwhy are you calling that owl Pig? Harry
asked Ross. Because hes being stupid, said
Ginny. Its proper name is Pig Widgeon.

The Progressive

(i) Do all state predicates allow the progressive?
(ii) How does the progressive affect the meaning of a
state predicate?

The Progressive

(i) sit, stand, lie, hang, rest

= verbs of position & location

The Progressive
(28)

a. The church stands at the top of the hill.
b. The box is standing in the middle of the room.
c. John is standing on the podium.
The Progressive
(29)
a. The village lies on a small river.
b. Your socks are lying under the bed.
c. The children are lying on the beach.

stand, sit, lie : at the boundary between states and
activities. When denoting permanent states, they resist the
progressive; when applying to temporary situations, they
allow the progressive.

The Progressive
(30)
a. The glass is sitting near the edge of the table.
b. Her book is lying in the grass.
c. The box is standing on end.
d. One corner of the piano is resting on the bottom
step.

Focus on an
interval that
follows a
change of state
The Progressive
[- Animate] subject
No agency
No movement

Not a process
The Progressive

This kind of progressive :

semantic and pragmatic restrictions !
The Progressive
(31)
New Orleans lies at the mouth of the Mississippi
River.
vs.
??New Orleans is lying at the mouth of the
Mississippi River.
The Progressive
(32)
Johns house sits at the top of a hill.
vs.
??Johns house is sitting at the top of a hill.

The Progressive
(33)
That argument rests on an invalid assumption.

vs.

??That argument is resting on an invalid assumption.

The Progressive

[..] the progressive is acceptable with these verbs
just to the degree that the subject denotes a
moveable object, or to be more exact, an object that
has recently moved, might be expected to move in
the near future, or might possibly have moved in a
slightly different situation. (Dowty 1979)
The Progressive
(34)

a. ?? Two trees were standing in the field.
b. After the forest fire, only two trees were still
standing.

The Progressive
(35)
When you enter the gate to the park there will be a
statue standing on your right, and a small pond
will be lying directly in front of you.
Stationary objects that
momentarily come into
the observers view
The Progressive
(36)
a. We reached the knoll and the peak was standing
majestically above the glacier.
b. When he got there, a wonderful castle was standing
in the middle of the forest!!!

The Progressive

the limited duration feature reflects the narrators
experience of the situation, rather than the objective
state itself.
The Progressive

(ii) flow, run, enter

motion verbs which can be used as locatives
The Progressive
(37)
a. The river flows through the center of the town.
b. (?) The river is flowing through the center of the
town.

A flood in
progress
The Progressive
(38)
a. The highway runs past the farm.
b. ? The highway is running past the farm.

focus on the internal
stages of durative
situations/ dynamism
= A highway planned or
under construction
The Progressive
(iii) Psychological statives:
know, guess, believe, think, imagine, suppose,
understand, hope, see, hear, smell, taste

love, hate, adore, like, dislike, want, desire

individual-level
predicates
The Progressive
(39) I loathe this author.
I am loathing this book.

(40) I hate reorganisations.
I am hating all these reorganisations in
the office.
The Progressive
(41)
a. Im finally seeing London with my own eyes!
b. I cant believe Im hearing this!
c. Im hearing you clearly.
+temporariness
+ conscious
experience
The Progressive

Temporary episodes which are presented as
consciously experienced and the emotional state
coincides with the experience which caused it

The situation is reinterpreted as a process which is
on at RT
The Progressive
(41)
a. We are knowing more and more about the
connotations of the progressive now.
b. We are missing you more and more.
c. These examples are seeming less and less
unacceptable to me.
d. Amy is resembling her mother more and more.

= the idea of progress/gradual change is explicit
The Progressive
(42) I hope youll help us.
Im hoping youll help us.

(43) I wonder if you could help us.
Im wondering if you could help us.

(44)You are forgetting/forget the moral argument.

[+polite] < tentative

The Progressive
[..] the Progressive is a more tentative, and hence
more polite method of expressing a mental
attitude (Leech 1986).

lack of commitment
The Progressive
(45)
a. I hope you will come and have dinner with us
when youre in Bucharest next time.
b. ???Im hoping you will come and have dinner
with us when youre in Bucharest next time.
The progressive
(46)
This rose smells sweet.
*This rose is smelling sweet.
(47)
The pudding tastes great.
*The pudding is tasting great.

Permanent (?) property
Inert perception

The Progressive
(48) I am smelling some perfumes.
She is tasting the pudding.
I am feeling the ground.

The V indicates active
perception
The V does NOT
denote a state!
It can occur in the
PROG freely!
The Progressive
Perception verbs used as link verbs;
(49)
a. That sounds like Johns voice. / * That is sounding
b. She sounds tired./ * She is sounding tired.
c. This apple tastes sour. / *This apple is tasting sour.
d. The flowers smell good./ *The flowers are smelling
good.

The Progressive
feel, sound, look, smell, taste + Adjective Phrase =
copulative predicates; they denote permanent
properties

[-control]
the progressive is generally excluded

The Progressive
(50)
a. She looks as fresh as a daisy.
b. She is looking as fresh as a daisy.
The Progressive
Verbs of bodily perception
(51) a. I feel hungry.
b. I am feeling hungry.

(52) a. My arm hurts.
b. My arm is hurting.
The Progressive
ache, feel (sick/ well), hurt, itch, tingle: at the boundary
between stative and activity

(i) can be used in the progressive; + progressive = internal
sensation/ - Progressive = external sensation (Leech
1971)
(ii) can be used in the progressive with a change of meaning
( Huddleston 2002): the progressive = activity.

The Progressive
(53)
a. I am feeling hungry.
b. I can feel a stone in my shoe.
The Progressive
(54)
This cake is looking done.
You fancy you are being clever!
She is having one of her headaches.

+ Indeterminacy
+ Irrealis
PROG: a modal value

The Progressive and state predicates: so far...
state predicates which allow a temporary
interpretation ( i.e. situations which can be
experienced in episodes) can be used in the
progressive when we emphasize that the situation
is in progress at a particular time (sometimes
contrastively)

temporary conscious experience will allow the
use of the progressive with state predicates
which normally resist the progressive

speakers involvement /subjectivity/evaluation allows
the use of the progressive with state predicates
The Progressive and state predicates: so far ...
PROGR a shift in the semantics of the state
predicate

+ episodic
+ dynamic
+ progress
+ indeterminacy
+ involvement on the part of the speaker

The Progressive so far...
the aspect marker triggers a situation-type shift:
the situation will be reinterpreted as a process
which is on at RT

one possible exception
The Progressive

Are there any state predicates which resist the
progressive?
States which resist the PROGR
< Kearns (1991) :
BE verbs are more likely to resist the progressive

BE verbs =
statives which behave like copula BE.
they can be paraphrased with BE // BE + a PP
(55)
a. John is 200 pounds.
b. Johns weight is 200 pounds.
c.John is 200 pounds in weight.
= WEIGH
(56)
John weighs 200 pounds.
*John is weighing 200 pounds.
(57)
a. That book is $25.
b. The cost/price of that book is $25.
c. That book is $25 in price.
= COST

(58) That book costs $25.
Apples cost a lot at this time of the year.
*That book is costing $25.
(59)The moat surrounds the castle.
The moat is around the castle.
*The moat is surrounding the castle.

(60) The woodshed adjoins the workshop.
The woodshed is beside the workshop.
*The woodshed is adjoining the workshop.
HAVE verbs:
(i) paraphrased by be + PP

contain
hold

(61) The box contains my books and pens.
= My books and pens are in the box.
(ii) be + possessive
own, belong

(62) John owns a car.
= That car is Johns.
verbs in the BE class and in the HAVE class seem to
form a semantic class. They are prototypical statives;
extremely few members of these two subclasses can
appear in the progressive

cost (?), weigh, adjoin, surround, resemble (?),
have, own, possess, contain, measure, consist of,
belong
the same in:
Leech (1986): state verbs of having and being

matter = BE important
own = HAVE in ones possession

(63) This carpet belongs to me.
* This carpet is belonging to me.

(64) Your age doesnt matter.
* Your age isnt mattering.
(65)
a. She has two sisters.
b. I have a bad backache. / I have got ...
c. What are you doing? I am having breakfast/a
party/a cigarette/ a bath.
State HAVE vs.
activity HAVE
(66) My sister is having a headache. = pretending

vs.

(67) My sister is having hysterics. = activity
(68) She is being kind.
Hes being a fool.
Hes being awkward.
The car is being difficult.
Hes being useful.
Youre being a nuisance!

The Progressive
achievements denote instantaneous changes of
state

vs. PROGR
gradual change of state
limited duration
The Progressive
Achievements [-durative]
PROG [+(limited) duration]
(69)
* I am finding my book.
vs.
He is reaching the summit now and will certainly reach
it before the other climbers.
Bill is constantly discovering web pages for lunatics.

The Progressive
(70) a. * Helen is finding her watch.
b. * They are losing the key.
c. * She is noticing a friend in the middle
of the crowd.

(71) a. Smith is winning the race.
b. Helen is reaching the top.
c. The plane is landing.
The Progressive
focus on the preliminary stages of the change of
state with no information as to its outcome
[ +/- preliminary stages]

the telic predicates have shifted to the atelic class, i.e.
winning the race or reaching the top are seen as
possible outcomes of a process which is on at ST.

BUT: * He was reaching the top for 5 hours.!
The Progressive
(72)
a. Helen has been finding lice in her hair
for weeks now.
b. Tourists have been discovering this
beautiful lake for ages.

= iterativity
The Progressive
(73)
a.The train was arriving.
b.The helicopter was landing.
c.The old man was dying.

an approach to the transition, rather than the
transition itself. (Leech 1986).
The Progressive
(74)
a.The flesh was drying and withering now.
b.The tears were drying now.
c.And they had these spotlights on and we were melting.
d.The last of the winter snow was melting off the steep slopes.
e.The sky was brightening, the shadows lifting.
f. The sky was darkening by the moment.
g.The wages and jobs gap between Wales and better-off parts
of England was widening, an economist warned yesterday.

The Progressive cont.
Semelfactives [+telic] [-durative] [-stative]

hiccup, hit, jump, kick, knock, nod, tap, wink
The Progressive
(78) a. The man is belching.
b. The child is coughing.
c. They are jumping up and down.
d. He was nodding.

activities of the multiple action type (i.e. as a
temporal succession of momentary, completed events)

The Progressive
such predicates denote events that take place at a
minimal interval, whereas in the progressive they
denote durative situations

The Progressive
activities
(79) What are you doing?
They are still waiting for her.
She is writing.

Activities can freely occur in the progressive
when [+ going on] [+durative] activity
The Progressive
(80)
Mary worked at Bellcore in 1989.
Mary was working at Bellcore in 1989.

the temporal adverbial is understood to give the
whole duration of a situation described by a simple
past predicate, but it carries the at least then
interpretation with a progressive
< the mid-interval feature of the progressive

The Progressive
Contextual values
THE PROGRESSIVE & habitual situations
(82)
She's always asking silly questions!
They are forever shouting!
Their baby is always weeping!
He is forever getting into trouble with the LEC teacher.
The Progressive
habitual and emotional overtone

ALWAYS:
(i) on all occasions (in non-progressive sentences)
(ii) constantly (in progressive sentences)
The Progressive
+ adverbials of the type always, forever, continually,
constantly, perpetually.

the speaker's disapproval of the habit.
= emotional involvement on the part of the speaker

this use of the progressive = "emotional"/
"disapproving is just a sub-set
The Progressive
< occurrence with adverbs such as always

= possibly, a leading role in the subjectification of
the English progressive

(83) It happens every other minute with ladies, who
are always dying to have, or to do, or to know
this thing or that.
The Progressive & habit in existence over a limited
period of time
(84)
a. I'm taking my son to school this week because my
husband has a cold.
b. He was staying at our parents place because his
house was being redecorated.
c. In those days, we were getting up at 7.00.
The Progressive
The limited period = generally specified by a
time adverbial.
the progressive = a series of events
ET is limited to the temporal value of the time
adverbial.

(85) She is studying in Venice this year.

The Progressive & repetition of events of limited
duration

(86)
a. You never listen to what people are saying.

b. He rarely lets us know what he is doing.

d. Whenever I visit them they are watching TV.

The Progressive & repetition of events of
limited duration
the notion of limited duration is applied not
to the habit as a whole, but to the individual
events of which the habit is composed. The
result []is thus to stretch the time-span of the
event (Leech 1971)

ET at/around RT
The Progressive cont
Compare:
(86)
a. Whenever I visit him he mows the lawn.
b. Whenever I visit him he is mowing the lawn.

= stretch the time -span of the event
The progressive for future events

(87)
They are leaving for Oslo tomorrow.
I'm seeing my dentist this afternoon.

the temporal value of the adverbial establishes a
future RT: ST prior to RT


BUT:
not always an explicit future time adverbial.

(88) John is leaving town.
(i)
(ii)

(89) John is eating salad.
(i)


something planned by a human agent more
subjective, less certain :
(90)
??? The sun is setting at 6.48 today.
?? The conference is beginning on the 29th .
??? The academic year is beginning on the 2nd of
October this year.
? Shes having her operation tomorrow.

the "uncertainty" = the reflex of the modal value of
the progressive. The indeterminacy and the
incompleteness which we associate with the
progressive could be one of the causes of the
[-certainty] reading in this case.
The context-dependent progressive
In saying these things he was warning you.
When a person is described as having fought and
won, or as having journeyed and arrived, he is not
being said to have done two things, but to have done
one thing with a certain upshot.
If we choose to place the dividing line between the
two at the county line, then we are basing our
decision on social rather than linguistic facts.
a. In saying this he was urging her to leave.
b. ?In saying this he urged her to leave.
a predicate in the
progressive gives a
redescription of an
event which is
independently reported,
usually in the preceding
clause.
it is evaluated at the time given by the event
which is redescribed, i.e. it specifies that
the sentence in which it occurs must be evaluated at the
same interval as the preceding sentence.

the progressive in the in frame maps the
redescriptive predicate to the interval of the redescribed
event
a. In understanding the humorous nature of his
remark she was getting the joke.
b. *She was getting the joke when the doorbell rang.

It is compatible with
prototypical momentary
achievements

In mentioning her name (= the redescribed event)
Jones was breaking his promise. (the redescriptive
predicate)

In reciting the limerick she was making a dreadful
mistake.
* ... she was making a dreadful mistake for just 5
minutes.
Vs.
She was reciting the limerick for just 5 minutes.

The redescriptive
predicate does not
denote a measurable
process
a. She was still reciting the limerick.
b. She continued reciting the limerick.

aspectual
modification is
acceptable with
the redescribed
event
a. *She was still making a dreadful mistake.
b. * She continued making a dreadful mistake.

aspectual
modification is not
acceptable with
the redescriptive
predicate
the context-dependent progressive lacks a process
component

also:
My hands are dirty because I have been digging in
the garden. ( cause-effect relationship)
Conclusions
-ing: locates ET at (least at)/around RT

the English progressive is a process-denoter +
possible outcomes

the process progressive denotes a temporal part of
a larger event , which exists earlier than the part
denoted by the progressive, and potentially
endures beyond it.
Conclusions
other features associated with the progressive
(derived from ET at/around RT)

episodic //limited duration
dynamism
incompleteness
subjectivity

the context-dependent progressive: not a process
Conclusions
The contextual values:

< the lexical meaning of the verb constellation
+ -ING
+ the meaning contributed by the time adverbial (if
any)
+ preceding discourse

The Progressive in English

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