Author(s): Sylvie Hancil
E-mail: sylvie@ling.ed.ac.uk
Most grammars emphasize the aspectual function of the progressive, as in I am running. But the progressive is also used in examples such as Mary is being ironical; John is being an angel; I was hoping you could come to join us for dinner tomorrow; I was wondering whether you could help me. In other words, it does not fulfil an aspectual function, but a function involving a specific interpretation of a situation by the speaker. In this paper, the interpretative function of the progressive will be examined through a particular set of examples illustrating a `polite' use of the progressive.
Paper: Postscript (329546 bytes)