Verbs: Progressive aspect¶

Auxiliary "be" followed by a gerund-participle

She was writing a novel (progressive, preterite tense on “was”, imperfective)

She wrote a novel (non-progressive, preterite tense on “wrote”, perfective, the novel as a whole)

The two clauses have the same tense, the preterite tense, but they differ in aspect.

The concept of aspect¶

Temporal structure

Aspect describes how an action, event, or state unfolds over time.

While tense tells you when an action occurs (past, present, or future), aspect reveals its temporal structure, whether it is complete, ongoing, repeated, or connected to another time.

See Aspect (grammar)

The Progressive and imperfectivity¶

Specific aspect of imperfectivity: In progress

Clauses with progressive form usually have imperfective interpretations.

Important

Not all clauses with imperfective interpretations, however, have progressive form:

At that time, he still lived at home

Dee didn’t call because she was busy

The characteristic meaning of progressive aspect involves a specific kind of imperfectivity: it presents the situation as being in progress:

Duration rather than being instantaneous or “punctual”
Dynamic rather than static. States don’t progress, they simply hold or prevail

Important

Clauses describing punctual or static situations generally appear in the non-progressive

I finally found my key (punctual)

~~I was finally finding my key~~ (finding is punctual, unlike searching)

At last it has stopped raining (punctual)

She has blue eyes (static)

~~She is having blue eyes~~ (a state)

This jug holds two pins (static)

Contrast between non-progressive and progressive¶

Specific interpretation of what the non-progressive means

The basic meaning of the progressive tends to interact with features relating to the kind of situation being described to yield a more specific interpretation.

He nodded (just one nod, nod is punctual)

He was nodding (specific: sequence of nods)

He is very tactful (a state, describes character, personality)

He is being very tactful (specific: behavior, “he is behaving very tactfully”)

She has lived with her parents (a state that held in the past)

She has been living with her parents (specific: it is progressing towards its end. It’s a continuative perfect in the progressive)

She reads the Economist (a state, regular, habitual reading. Reading is long, not like “one nod”)

She is reading the Economist (specific: single reading in process)

Note

“Nodding” is a punctual short action, single nod. So the specific interpretation is that the non progressive is single, and the progressive is sequence.

Since reading the Economist is a long action, the specific interpretation is exactly the opposite: We take the non progressive as many readings, and the progressive as a single reading

The progressive futurate¶

There are certain cases where clauses with progressive form do not have the usual “in progress” meaning.

The most important involves the futurate construction:

I see my therapist today. (ordinary futurate, appointment setup and regularly scheduled, perfective )

I’m seeing my therapist today. (I intend to see the therapist today. However, the non-progressive ordinary futurate interpretation is acceptable here as well. Perfective)

I both clauses, the interpretation is perfective. We view the event as an entire bounded situation located entirely in the future.

Aspect coercion¶

He must be joking

~~He must be knowing~~

Aspectual redundancy¶

With dynamic verbs, simple present vs. progressive present marks a fundamental aspectual contrast:

Dynamic (work)¶

Simple form = Habitual/Generic

He works at 9.

Progressive form = Present ongoing/imperfective

He is working right now.

To express present inference of an ongoing activity, you must use progressive:

He must be working

Stative (know)¶

Simple form = Already inherently imperfective/durative

He knows the answer.

Because the simple form of a stative verb inherently frames the state as spanning the present moment, marked progressive aspect is semantically redundant.
To express present inference of a state, the simple form is used:

He must know.

Volition and agentive behavior¶

Applying progressive aspect to a stative baseline requires aspectual coercion.

Coercion is not freely available to all stative verbs.

It is restricted by agentivity (volitional control):

Coercible states¶

Agentive / behavioral

Predicate: be silly, be polite, joke
Mechanic: The subject has volitional control over the state and can actively display it as a temporary behavior.
Result: Coerced into a dynamic temporary stance

He is being polite (polite is an adjective)

He must be joking

Coercing adjectives¶

“polite” is an adjective.

When you want to apply progressive aspect to an AdjP to denote temporary, coerced behavior, the progressive marker (-ing) must attach to a supporting copular verb (be):

He is being polite

“polite” is coercible into progressive constructions because its core semantic definition involves agentivity: behavior under the direct, volitional control of the subject.

Adjectives that undergo progressive coercion systematically pass other syntactic and semantic tests for agentivity:

Imperative Licensing: Agentive adjectives can form valid imperatives because the speaker can demand that the subject exercise control over the state.

Be polite! (coercible)

Be tall! (non-coercible)

Compatibility with volitional adverbials: Coercible adjectives take manner adverbs that specify intent or deliberate effort.

He was deliberately polite. (coercible)

She was intentionally difficult. (coercible)

~~He was deliberately tall~~ (non-coercible)

Adjective Type	Semantic Interpretation	Behavioural Reading Available?	be being Licensed?	Example
Behavioural (agent)	Describes temporary behaviour	Yes	Yes	He is being polite / rude / silly / quiet.
Property	Describes an inherent or enduring property	No (normally)	No (normally)	✗ He is being tall / heavy / blonde / intelligent.
Relational	Describes category, composition, or relation	No	No	✗ This is being wooden / French / numeric.

Note

Adjectives normally denote durative states, so they already satisfy the progressive’s requirement for temporal extension.

With behavioural adjectives (polite, silly), the progressive applies aspectual coercion: it reinterprets a static property as a temporary, dynamic behaviour:

He is being polite. (= He is behaving politely).

Non-coercible states¶

Non-Agentive / Pure Cognitive or Relational):

Predicate: know, believe, resemble, own
Mechanic: Cognition and relation are non-volitional and lack external behavioral manifestation. You cannot “act” in a state of knowing.
Result: Coercion fails

~~He is knowing~~

~~He must be knowing.~~

Progressive licensing under epistemic modal auxiliaries¶

Construction	Base Aspect Class	Volitional / Agentive?	Progressive Licensed?	Epistemic Modal Form
work	Dynamic activity	Yes	Yes (standard progressive)	He must be working.
joke	Dynamic activity → behavioural interpretation	Yes	Yes (standard progressive / behavioural reading)	He must be joking.
know	Stative cognition	No	No (normally)	He must know.

For all modals:

Modal	Dynamic	Stative
will	He will be working. ✓	✗ He will be knowing.
would	He would be working. ✓	✗ He would be knowing.
can	He can be working. ✓	✗ He can be knowing.
could	He could be working. ✓	✗ He could be knowing.
may	He may be working. ✓	✗ He may be knowing.
might	He might be working. ✓	✗ He might be knowing.
must	He must be working. ✓	✗ He must be knowing.
should	He should be working. ✓	✗ He should be knowing.

Examples, use mix of modals since this is true for all of them:

Typical Verb	Base Aspect Class	Dynamic?	Progressive Licensed?	Modal + Simple	Modal + Progressive
believe	Stative cognition	No	No (normally)	She may believe you.	✗ She may be believing you.
contain	Stative relation	No	No	The box must contain money.	✗ The box must be containing money.
die	Dynamic change of state	Yes	Yes	He may die.	He may be dying.
joke	Behaviour / activity	Yes	Yes	He could joke about that.	He could be joking.
know	Stative cognition	No	No (normally)	He might know.	✗ He might be knowing.
lie (tell lies)	Behaviour / activity	Yes	Yes	He may lie.	He may be lying.
own	Stative possession	No	No	She might own the house.	✗ She might be owning the house.
pretend	Behaviour / activity	Yes	Yes	She may pretend.	She may be pretending.
run	Dynamic activity	Yes	Yes	He will run.	He will be running.
see (perceive)	Stative perception	No	No (normally)	He may see the problem.	✗ He may be seeing the problem.
sleep	Dynamic activity	Yes	Yes	The baby will sleep.	The baby will be sleeping.
work	Dynamic activity	Yes	Yes	He will work.	He will be working.
write	Dynamic activity	Yes	Yes	She will write.	She will be writing.