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We have seen that the distinctive characteristic of progressive forms is that they refer to actions or series of actions veiwed at some point between their beginning and end, and that they indicate limited duration. There are a number of verbs whose inherent meaning is not easily compatible with the use of the progressive: (a) verbs referring to activities of the mind, the emotions or the sense, e.g. think, believe, understand, remember, forget, wish, want, like, love, hate, notice, recognize, hear, see, feel, smell, etc.; (b) verbs referring to a state or condition, where an essential element in the meaning of the verbs is that of permanence, e.g. contain, equal, resemble, belong, own, have,(=possess), include, comprise, etc. These two sets of verbs are rarely used in a progressive form for the reason given above - the meaning of the verbs is not easily compatible with the meaning' of the progressive forms. Some of the verbs may, however, occur in the progressive form in certain circumstances: <1> The verbs may have more than one meaning or use, and one of these meanings may be compatible with the use of a progressive form: 11a What do you think I should do? (=what is your opinion?) 11b What are you thinking about? (= what is going on in your mind at the present moment?) 12a I see you've got a new car. (= I perceive) 12b I'm seeing him later this evening. (=I've planned to meet him) <2> We may use the progressive form if we wish to stress the idea that something is happening by degrees, but in this case, the sentence nearly always contains a specific reference to the idea 'by degrees' or 'gradually': 13 Now that my eyes are getting used to the dark, I'm seeing things a bit more clearly. <3> Some of the verbs of sensation have both a transitive and an intransitive use, and it is possible to use a progressive form when the verb is used transitively: 14a This sauce tastes superb. Did you make it yourself? 14b I'm tasting the sauce to see if there's enough spice in it. The verb 'taste' in 14a refers to a 'state' ('superb'), which is regarded as a permanent quality of this sauce; whereas in 14b, the verb refers to an activity taking place at the moment of speaking and limited in duration. |