Microsoft Word Theoretical Course of English Grammar

Nino Kirvalidze
50
by the verb in the past perfect precedes the event presented in the main clause in the simple 
past tense. 
Contrast the sentences with two different situations: 
She had owned the house since her 
parents died
and 
She has owned the house since her parents died
. Whereas the first sentence 
implies that she doesn’t own the house now, the second entails that she still owns is. 
The present progressive describes events that are currently in progress (e.g. 
What’s she 
doing?
;
I’m looking for an employee of yours
), or events that are going to take place in the 
future and about which the speaker feels quite certain (for instance, 
But she’s coming back 
tomorrow; I’m going with him next week
).
Past progressive verbs describe events that were in progress for a limited period of time: 
She was writing short stories then
; or 
I was reading an economics book last night
. This sentence 
entails that the book was perhaps not finished.
The progressive aspect implies temporariness, whereas the non-progressive implies per-
manence: She writes short stories = She’s a short-story writer; He teaches in a comprehensive 
school = He’s a teacher in a comprehensive school.
Progressive aspect is most common in conversation and fiction. In conversation, most 
progressive verb phrases are in the present tense, while past progressive verbs are preferred in 
fiction. There are two notable exceptions to this general trend, however: the past tense forms 
was/were saying
and 
was/were thinking
are more common for both registers (Biber et al. 2003: 
163).
Some verbs are most often used in the progressive aspect. In fact, some verbs like 
bleed
and 
starve
almost occur as progressive verbs. The common progressive aspect verbs come from 
many semantic domains, including both dynamic (e.g. 
chase
, 
shop
) and stative verbs (e.g. 
look 
forward to
). Other verbs, for example ‘instantaneous’ verbs like arrest, begin, stop, shrug, etc. 
never occur in progressive aspect. 
Two characteristics determine whether a verb is commonly or rarely used in the progres-
sive form: 

whether the subject is an agent
4
or an experiencer
5
;
4
 Agent
indicates the doer of an action. 

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Theoretical Course of English Grammar 
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