PROGRESSIVE: GENERAL
1 forms
Progressive verb forms (also called 'continuous' forms) are made with be + ing.
I am waiting for the shops to open. (present progressive)
Your suit is being cleaned. (present progressive passive)
She phoned while I was cooking. (past progressive)
I didn't know how long she had been sitting there. (past perfect
Will you be going out this evening? (future progressive)
I'd like to be lying on the beach now. (progressive infinitive)
2 terminology and use
A progressive form does not simply show the time of an event. It also shows how the speaker sees the event - generally as ongoing and temporary, not completed or permanent. (Because of this, grammars often talk about `progressive aspect' rather than 'progressive tenses'). Compare:
- I've read your letter. (completed action)
I've been reading a lot of thrillers recently. (not necessarily
completed)
-The Rhine runs into the North Sea. (permanent)
We'll have to phone the plumber - water's running down the kitchen wall (temporary)
When a progressive is used to refer to a short momentary action, it often suggests repetition.
Why are you jumping up and down?
The door was banging in the wind.
3 distancing
Progressive forms can make requests, questions and statements less direct. (They sound less definite than simple forms, because they suggest something temporary and incomplete.)
I'm hoping you can lend me £10. (less definite than I hope . . .)
What time are you planning to arrive?
I'm looking forward to seeing you again.
I'm afraid we must be going.
I was wondering if you had two single rooms.
Will you be going away at the weekend?
NON-PROGRESSIVE VERBS
1 verbs not used in progressive ('continuous') forms
Some verbs are never or hardly ever used in progressive forms.
I like this music. (NOT I'm liking this music.)
I rang her up because I needed to talk. (NOT ... because I was needing to talk.)
Some other verbs are not used in progressive forms when they have certain meanings. Compare:
I'm seeing the doctor at ten o'clock.
I see what you mean. (NOT I'm seeing what you mean.)
Many of these non-progressive verbs refer to states rather than actions. Some refer to mental states (e.g. know, think, believe); some others refer to the use of the senses (e.g. smell, taste).
Modal verbs (e.g. can, must) have no progressive forms.
2. common non-progressive verbs
Here is a list of some common verbs which are not often used in progressive forms (or which are not used in progressive forms with certain meanings).
mental and emotional states
believe (dis)like see (= understand)
doubt love suppose
feel (= have an opinion) prefer think (= have an opinion)
hate realise understand
imagine recognise want
know remember wish
use of the senses
feel see sound
hear smell taste
communicating and causing reactions
agree impress promise
appear look (= seem) satisfy
astonish mean seem
deny please surprise
disagree
other
be deserve measure (= have length)
belong fit need
concern include owe
consist involve own
contain lack possess
depend matter weigh (= have weight)
3 progressive and non-progressive uses
Compare the progressive and non-progressive uses of some of the verbs listed above.
- I´m feeling fine. (or I feel fine.)
I feel we shouldn't do it. (NOT I'm feeling we shouldn't do it. - feel here = to have an opinion.)
- What are you thinking about?
What do you think of the government? (NOT What are you thinking of the government? think here = have an opinion.)
- I'm seeing Leslie tomorrow.
I see what you mean. (NOT I'm seeing what you mean. see here = understand.)
- Why are you smelling the meat? Is it bad?
Does the meat smell bad? (NOT Is the meat smelling bad?
- I'm just tasting the cake to see if it's OK.
The cake tastes wonderful. (NOT The cake´s tasting wonderful).
- The scales broke when I was weighing myself this morning.
I weighed 68 kilos three months ago - and look at me now! (NOT I was weighing 68 kilos . . . - weigh here = have weight.)
Occasionally 'non-progressive' verbs are used in progressive forms in order to (PARA) emphasise the idea of change or development.
These days, more and more people prefer / are preferring to take earlier retirement.
The water tastes / is tasting better today.
As I get older, I remember / I'm remembering less and less.
I'm liking it here more and more as time goes by.
Need, want and mean can have future or present perfect progressive uses.
Will you be needing the car this afternoon?
I've just been invited to Sydney. It's wonderful - I've been wanting to go to Australia for years.
I've been meaning to tell you about Andrew. He . . .
4 can see etc
Can is often used with see, hear, feel, taste, smell, understand and remember to give a kind of progressive meaning, especially in British English.
I can see Sue coming down the road.
Can you smell something burning?
5 -ing forms
Even verbs which are never used in progressive tenses have -ing can be used in other kinds of structure.
Knowing her tastes, I bought her a large box of chocolates.
I don't like to go to a country without knowing something of the language.
3.WITH ALWAYS ETC
We can use always, continually and similar words with a progressive form to mean 'very often'.
I'm always losing my keys.
Granny's nice. She's always giving people little presents.
I'm continually running into Paul these days.
That cat's forever getting shut in the bathroom.
This structure is used to talk about things which happen very often (perhaps more often than expected), and which are unexpected or unplanned. Compare:
- When Alice comes to see me, I always meet her at the station. (a regular, planned arrangement)
I'm always meeting Mrs Bailiff in the supermarket. (accidental, unplanned meetings)
- When I was a child, we always had picnics on Saturdays in the summer. (regular, planned)
Her mother was always arranging little surprise picnics and outings. (unexpected, not regular)
